Speak Up
by Mya Latti
Summary: So after about four months of tests, the doctor had confirmed to his mother what was wrong with Red. "Your child is mute," A novelisation of the generation one games.
1. Childhood

Okie doke. So I came to the conclusion that Red from the generation I games was a **mute **because you never hear him talk during the games (well, no protagonist talks in all of them, but I like this theory) and that he challenges you in Gold and Silver and Crystal in Mt Silver without talking.

And well, this is fun to write, but probably **atrocious.**

This is also going to be basically along the storyline of Red/Blue/Yellow :D**  
**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own pokemon.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Prelude/Backstory**

* * *

If you were to ask Red's mum about what it was like having a child who didn't speak, she would more than likely respond with something like this:

"When you find our your child is mute, everything just stops in your life. You realise that you can't communicate with them like normal people do, and everything in their mind is trapped within them until you find a way to reach them. It's not their responsibility, they can't help it. It changes _everything,_"

* * *

"Hey, Red," She looked down at her three year old son, who looked back at her when he heard his name. "Can you say 'mum'?" He just continued to stare up at her and slowly lifted his finger up to point. She sighed in frustration, she'd been trying to teach him to talk since he was one and a half, and so far he had not uttered a word yet. Surely that wasn't normal? She had read lots of child raising textbooks during her pregnancy, and all of them had said that a child should begin making word-like sounds at one, and should be taught to try and speak proper words at eighteen months. But it also said that children didn't always follow the textbook exactly and would develop at their own pace. She had been clinging to that for a while, convincing herself that Red was fine. Now, she wasn't so sure. "Can you say Red?" He just continued to stare at her with those wide brown eyes of his.

* * *

"Red!" Green said, pointing to the other boy. "We're going to play superheroes, okay? I'm going to be the hero, and you're going to be the villain. And this..." He looked around the room for something and set his sights on a Bulbasaur doll that was on a shelf. "Doll can be the girl _I _have to save!"

"Has he not said anything yet?" Green's mum asked her, taking a sip of her tea as she did so. She shook her head in response. "Have you thought about having him checked for anything?"

"No, I haven't actually," She answered, frowning. "I'm just really worried. What if he's got some horrible disease or something?"

"It can't be that serious," She attempted to comfort the other woman. "He's probably just a late developer,"

"I hope so," She moved her chair slightly so she could watch the two boys playing in the lounge room from the kitchen. It always made her sad seeing them together because Green would go along with their games, rattling off long sentences, describing the setting and all the different characters, while Red would just stare up at him, nodding occasionally. He'd play the games, but he didn't get much say in what happened and just went along with it. Green was a good kid though, he was very accepting of Red. But then again, they had been friends since they had been born. It was a nice friendship though, she hoped things didn't really change in that respect. "I'll do it," She nodded her head, turning back towards her friend. "This afternoon I'll make an appointment at the doctor's,"

* * *

**_Six months later._**

Exactly six months ago, she had taken Red to see a doctor. They had run countless tests on him, making her run around to see all sorts of different specialists. They weren't even in Pallet Town, she had to travel up to Viridian and Pewter City for most of them. Red liked the travelling though, she would notice his eyes would always light up when they entered each city. He'd look around in excitement, pointing to buildings and making her take him to parks and playgrounds. She didn't like the travel so much herself, she saw it as too much of a hassle, but sometimes it was nice to get out and about.

So after about four months of tests, the doctor had confirmed what was wrong with Red. "Your child is mute," They had found that there was nothing physically or mentally wrong with him though, he just didn't speak. He didn't seem to want to either, which confused all of them when the results came in.

She had no idea how to raise a child she couldn't communicate with. She had little idea about how to raise a child at all, but one she couldn't talk with seemed near impossible. They had to visit the doctor several times after his confirmation, and at one of the visits, he mentioned something to her. "Have you ever heard of sign language?" It seemed like her saving grace, perfect for her and Red. The doctor gave her a pamphlet, and after researching it herself, she began teaching her son along with her.

"Red, this means water," She held three of her fingers up to form a 'W' and held them close to her mouth. "Can you do that?" He nodded and copied her movement. It was such a long, slow process. She had to teach him the _whole _alphabet, and most of the words in the language, as well. But they were getting there, they were starting to understand one another with certain signs.

But when he managed to ask her a question, and she was able to understand it and respond, it was the most amazing thing. Her son actually had a voice, had _life._

* * *

**_A year and a half later - Green._**

"Green, I'm going to teach you something important," His mother called him up to the couch.

"What is it?" He whined. He was only five, and as a general rule, children don't like purposely learning things. But right now was the best time for him to learn, it would be more difficult as he got older.

"It's called sign language,"

"What's that?" He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. Well, so far he was rather reluctant. She started to consider whether it was a good idea or not, but she couldn't go back on it. She'd already told Red's mum she'd teach him, and she was very excited when she had heard that.

"You know how sometimes Red will make hand gestures to his mother and she'll respond?" She explained and he nodded. "Well, that's sign language. Each gesture corresponds to a letter or a word,"

"Why do I have to learn this?" He moaned, taking a seat on the couch. "It sounds like a lot of work,"

"You'll be able to talk to Red using it,"

"Really?" A massive grin spread across his face. "Let's go! I really want to say something to my best friend!" She was astounded at the effort he put into learning and how fast he picked it up considering he'd been so reluctant at the beginning. Every morning before breakfast he'd rush up to his mother, asking to learn another word or two. Then he'd practice with her at every chance he got. His enthusiasm was cute, but she couldn't help but giggle when he'd occasionally use a wrong gesture and his whole sentence would be completely mismatched.

* * *

"Hey, Red!" He heard his name and turned to see where it was coming from. He smiled when he saw Green running up to him, he seemed _very _excited for some reason. "Look what I can do!" Clumsily, he said using gestures, _'I can speak sign language!'_

Well, Red's face lit up when he saw this and he said back, _'I can talk to you!'_ Red was ecstatic, he had someone to talk to other than his mother. And it just made it better than it was his best friend as well. But Green's sign language wasn't perhaps as fluent as Red's, as he found himself going to quickly for his friend to keep up sometimes. He would laugh silently as his friend threw him a confused look and told him to slow down, but they'd get there eventually.

When Red first said _'I can talk to you!', _it was the weirdest thing for Green. For their first five years of them being friends, Red had a voice. Red was able to talk, to communicate. It was as if he suddenly knew his friend, that he had a personality, a life.

* * *

If you were to ask Green what it was like having a friend that was mute, he'd probably respond with something like this. "It was always so different as a child than playing with other children that did speak. We were silent most of the time because I felt stupid talking to myself. I still remember that, even though it was so many years ago now. When I was five and learned sign language, that was fantastic. Red is actually the nicest guy, he hardly ever takes anything seriously. It was difficult before that though, because you try to talk to him but you think he doesn't understand because he doesn't respond. So you talk to him as if he's a baby, or stupid. Which he isn't,"


	2. Your First Pokemon

Chapter two, yeahhhhhhhhh dardz mate. Anyway, I'm glad people liked the first chapter, and hopefully the second one makes a bit more sense :)

**Alsooo, **the little bits at the beginning where Green or Red's mum talk, that's just like, them explaining the story. Because my **original **was to have it like Green and Red were retelling the story. I hope it **makes sense :) **Oh, and they're seventeen in the little talky bits at the beginning. And I also changed it to that they start their journeys when they're **fourteen, **because it made more sense that way. **Enjoy!**

Oh, and **anything in **_'and italics' _is in sign language!

* * *

**Chapter 2: Beginnings  
**

* * *

_"To be honest, I never really thought that Red would be a trainer. It just seemed pretty much impossible, because he wouldn't be able to use his voice for commands or anything. For example with this hypothetical situation, if for some reason his pokemon decided to turn on him, he wouldn't be able to stop them. He could...well, die. But he was really persistent, so you had to give him credit for that," Green shrugged._

* * *

Red stepped into Professor Oak's lab, breathing in deeply. It smelt so clean, clean like a hospital. Eerie clean. He walked down the hallway and poked his head through the doorway of the research room hoping to find the Professor. But instead there was Green. He sighed inwardly, there was no way he could avoid him now.

"Yo, Red!" A cocky grin spread across his face. "Gramps isn't around, but I ran here because he said he had a pokemon for me!"

_'I know,' _He replied. _'That's why I'm here too,' _There was a noise and both boys exchanged glances. It was footsteps. They froze, both nervous about being caught even though they were allowed to be there. The steps were getting closer and louder, whoever it was was almost here.

"Red, Green!" Red felt his heartbeat slow down to about half of what it was before, completely relieved that it wasn't someone that would get them in trouble and just the Professor. "Fancy seeing you here,"

"Gramps, I'm fed up with waiting!" Green whined, stamping his feet on the ground. They may used to have been best friends, but to Red, Green was such a brat. Whining and moaning whenever he didn't get something he wanted. He never used to be like that, he just got terrible when they were about eight. He'd never figured out why.

"Green, why are you here?" Oak replied, looking at this grandson in confusion. "I said for you to come by later," Green stared up at him, pouting. "Oh, whatever, just wait there," He turned to Red now. "Do you see that ball on the table? It's called a pokeball and holds a pokemon inside," Remember Green saying that it was hard to talk to him like an adult because you thought he couldn't understand, so you ended up talking to him like he was a baby? Yeah, well most people did that.

Oak picked up the ball and held it out to him. "Here, you can have it," Red went to reach for it, hoping the Professor and Green wouldn't notice his hands shaking from excitement and anticipation, that would be rather embarrassing. But then he felt a push against his chest and staggered backwards a few steps.

"I want this one!" Green snatched the ball out of his Grandpa's hands.

_'No, that's mine!' _Red answered angrily.

_'Nope, I think it's mine,' _He poked out his tongue. _'He'll give it to me because I'm his Grandson,' _The Professor didn't understand sign language, which is part of the reason why Green could get away with being so nasty. But Green _was _right, he'd get it by default.

"Oh, alright," Oak sighed. "That one is yours,"

"Of course it is," He grinned. "Smell you later, losers," They watched him run enthusiastically out the building, Oak frowning and Red scowling. Red was furious, he had never hated Green more than he did right now. He stole his pokemon! Green _knew _how excited he had been about recieving it, but no, he had to be selfish and take the one not even meant for him.

"I'm sorry about that," He sighed once again. "He's a little spoilt sometimes," Red nodded enthusiastically at this. "Anyway, you can have this one," He handed him a pokeball. "I caught it just before I came back here, so it's not tame yet," That wasn't helping Red's anger die down, in fact, it was just making it worse. Of course he got the dud one, he never got what he wanted. He was always overlooked just because he was silent.

He took the ball out of Oak's hands, and less than a minute afterwards, it started to glow and open in his hands and a small, yellow, mousy thing appaeared in front of them. Red tried to bring it back into its ball, but it wouldn't. So he tried again, and again, but with no luck. To reiterate, _nothing _went his way.

"Well, it appears to dislike its pokeball," Oak commented. "That's not unfamiliar, but I suppose you'll just have to take it along with you,"

* * *

Well, it had been much fun for Red trying to drag a reluctant Pikachu along with him out into Route One. It had been very uncooperative, snarling everytime he had tried to pick it up. It hadn't minded Professor Oak, but it didn't like Red. Of course. But eventually they had made it, even though he had had to drop food behind him each step to get the pokemon to follow. He'd began to drop less and less pieces, and eventually it would follow him without it. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was only because that the little creature knew that it would get more food eventually. But he didn't mind, as long as it was being cooperative now.

He'd been walking for about an hour an a half, when he decided to try and learn Pikachu's attacks. They weren't going to get anywhere if it didn't understand certain gestures. He found a tree stump and took a seat on it and Pikachu just looked up at him expectantly. He knew what it wanted, so he fished out some food from his bag and threw it onto the ground for it. After it finished, it looked up at him again. He really had no idea how he was going to go about this, but at least it seemed to trust him now.

He pointed to Pikachu, just to take a shot at something. The creature just tilted it's head to the side in confusion. Okay, that wasn't going to work. He bit his lip down, he was trying to think of any gestures that might correspond to what an attack looked like. Eventually he'd thought of something for an electric attack. He clenched his right hand into a fist and then in one motion extended his fingers outwards. He repeated it several times, but still Pikachu didn't seem to understand. He sighed and pointed at it with his left hand and repeated the other motion with the other.

After about ten minutes of doing this _same _thing with his hand, he was about to give up. He hadn't realised just how _difficult _it would be. For some stupid reason, he felt his eyes begin to get watery. He didn't like it, he wasn't someone who cried normally. He sniffed and wiped at his eyes, but it didn't do much justice. At first he didn't understand why he was crying over a silly little thing like Pikachu not being able to understand, but then he realised that he was crying about the whole day. About _stupid _Green stealing his pokemon and being nasty, and then about him recieving the dud pokemon, the one that wasn't even tame yet. _Nothing ever went his way! _But he couldn't quit the whole thing now, he'd only been at it for less than two hours. He could _succeed, _he _could_, if he just _tried _harder. But did he want to?

He felt a little nudge against his legs, and he looked down to see Pikachu watching him in concern. He smiled and wiped his eyes. It nudged his legs again, and it was right now that Red realised that he hadn't recieved the bad pokemon, he'd been given something that had the potential to be his companion, a friend. All the tears disappeared immediately and he suddenly didn't feel so bad. Slowly he repeated the gesture again and he thought he saw Pikachu's eyes widen as it made a little noise of understanding. Its cheeks began to spark and a bolt of electricity hit the ground just ten metres away from them. Red nodded in approval, smiling. He tried again in case the first time was a fluke, and once again Pikachu used Thunderbolt. Cautiously, he reached out to pet it's head, and this time, it didn't snarl.


	3. Pewter City

I don't really like this chapter very much, too violent for me, haha. But it seemed like an interesting thing to include. And I know you don't meet Green in Pewter City, but it worked better with the story this way.

Poor Red. But he shouldn't have joined in. I feel bad for him.

* * *

**Chapter 3: No understanding**

"Until this, I'd never really realised the adversity the Red had to face. I'd never seen the big, outside world, so I hadn't realised how harsh people can be when they see someone who perhaps isn't the same as them. I just hadn't realised how hard his life could be. His pokemon journey was also mine, I learnt a lot with our brief meetings. A lot about the world, life and people," Green said.

* * *

Red stepped past the sign that told him he was in Pewter City, and a large smile spread slowly across his face. He hadn't been here for at least ten years, but it was just the same as he had remembered it. Quaint, yet still large enough to be called a city. The streets were cobbled, giving it a rustic sort of feel and people were out and about in the streets talking to one another. It was so different to Pallet Town, and he even maybe liked it a little more. He had never really thought living in a small town suited him though, because everyone always knew everyone elses business. And with him being who he was, he wanted as much anonymity as possible.

He continued to walk into the town, Pikachu trailing along after him. He wanted to go challenge the gym straight away, but he thought it would probably be best to go to a pokecentre. He hadn't been to one since Viridian City - and he'd had to treck through the Viridian Forest. He located the centre on a map of the town that was stuck onto a big sign and found out it was just twenty metres in the direction he was already heading. So he continued down the track and entered the building.

It was really busy, much busier than he thought a small city pokecentre would ever be. There were people just standing around talking to other, people using the computers and phones and people queueing up for the front counter. But the majority of people were just sitting down and looking incredibly nervous. He figured these people were just waiting for their pokemon to be returned and healed to them and could sympathise. Even though he'd had little experience, he'd found it really nerve-wracking just waiting for his Pikachu to be returned to him. Because what if Pikachu was unwell or too hurt to ever battle again? He'd be devastated. He pushed the unpleasant thoughts out of his mind and joined the queue.

He was about the seventh person in line, but it moved fairly quickly. While he was waiting, he thought about the system they had going. It was pretty bad, only having one counter when so many people used the facility. There were others working behind the counter, but only one serving. It was his turn soon enough though, and he placed his pokeballs on the desk and picked up Pikachu. The mouse protested a little to being lifted off the ground, but it sat contentedly on the desk.

"What would you like me to do?" The Nurse Joy asked. Red just pushed the balls forward and then pointed to them. "I don't understand," She replied, tilting her head to the side in confusion. He did expect this, he'd never had an easy time being in public places where he had to _communicate. _But it hadn't been like this in Viridian City, they'd understood right away. But that pokecentre was much smaller and quieter. He lifted his arm up and pointed to the machine which was used to heal the pokemon.

"Hey, hurry up," A voice echoed from behind him. It sounded annoyed, like it was telling him off. That annoyed Red, he hadn't even been here that long. "Some of us are in a hurry, you know," So, he did what he always did in this sort of situation. Without turning around, he stuck up his middle finger at the guy and continued trying to make the nurse understand.

"I'm sorry," The Nurse Joy continued. "I don't know what you're trying to say," Suddenly, Red felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around finding himself standing face-to-face with a guy around his age and height. He assumed this was the guy he flipped off.

"What the shit do you think you're doing?" He addressed Red, glaring at him. Red just stared up at him, his eyes wide. He wasn't afraid, but he was a little nervous. But hey, this guy was being rude to him, so he deserved it. "Silence, hey? You little shit," Red just kept staring up at him, not knowing what else to do. This just served to infuriate the guy even more, as his hands had now clenched up. "I'll teach you to fucking disrespect me," And he lifted up his fist and punched Red in the face.

Red staggered backwards a few steps and regained his balance. He'd actually been kind of expecting this, as it wasn't the first time he'd gotten abused in public. He'd never been in a fist fight because of it before, but he'd often been yelled at for not talking or making any sense with hand gestures. He'd just grown used to it and wasn't really surprised by anything anymore. But still, it wasn't nice to be attacked, so he stepped back up to the guy and punched him back. He watched in satisfaction (though now his sight was a little hazy) as the guy was sent flying backwards into the wall. His heart sunk as he stood back up and made his way back over to him.

The whole centre was watching now, some people cheering, others watching in horror and Red and this other boy engaged in a proper fist fight. It was unusual for two people to be fighting themselves, pokemon were usually used for that sort of thing. It didn't hurt them as much. Red heard someone yell for them to stop, and he wished someone would step in and finish it. He couldn't do it himself because he'd have to run away, and the guy, among others would call him a coward, and that would hurt his pride too much. So he kept punching and recieving punches, even though it hurt and he was sure at least one of his eyes was black.

"What the _shit?_" That was uttered louder that anything else in the room, but no one paid attention besides Red, who recognised the voice. He was too preoccupied to find out who it was, until they stepped into the area where they were fighting. "Red, what the hell are you doing?" It was Green. The other guy stopped punching for a moment and glared at him.

"Get out," He hissed at Green, motioning with his head to the door. "We're busy here,"

"No," Green answered, giving him a look that could well, literally kill. Red had known that he was able to give expressions like that, but he hadn't realised how intense they were. The other guy winced from it. "Stop fighting,"

"Why should we?"

"Look, you're already bloody enough, I don't think you need to get into another fight," He replied. "And stop beating up Red, he doesn't deserve it,"

"He gave me the finger!" The guy protested.

Green turned and frowned at Red, who grinned in response. _'Why?'_

_'He started yelling at me for holding up the queue because the Nurse couldn't understand what I was trying to say,' _Now that he had stopped fighting and the adrenaline wasn't pumping so hard throughout his body, he was starting to hurt and could taste blood. His eyes were both stinging and he cheeks were throbbing. He couldn't start fighting again.

Someone in the crowd saw them using sign language, and called out "He's deaf!" Prompting the rest of the crowd to gasp.

"He's not deaf," Green shushed them. "He just can't talk," Him and Red turned back towards where the other guy was standing, and found that he had run away. Probably scared out of his wits of Green. Red laughed a little on the inside at this, Green would never use physical violence to hurt anyone, he'd just throw nasty expressions. Once the crowd had realised this, they slowly dispersed and everything went back to the way it was beforehand. _'Why did you get into a fight this early, Red?' _He sighed.

_'I didn't want to!' _He replied._ 'It was the other guy's fault, he punched me. I didn't do anything besides stare up at him. Don't tell mum, okay?'_

_'Fine,' _He said. _'Just try not to fight again. Also, you look pretty rotten,' _He grinned, chuckling at his friend.

_'I feel pretty rotten too. I might just rent a room here and go to bed now,'_

"That's fair enough," Green nodded, switching back to speaking. "Would you like me to go get the key for you? If the nurse didn't understand you the first time, I don't think she will now,"

_'Thanks,' _Red took a seat, trying to avoid the stares of some of the patrons of the centre. His head hurt and he couldn't think clearly. It was a stupid idea to punch that guy back, it didn't solve anything. Pikachu, who had been watching from the counter the whole time had cautiously jumped up onto his lap and was looking up at him in concern. He smiled at the little creature, petting it's head softly. Green returned and handed him a key as well as his pokeballs. _'Thanks,' _Green smiled and nodded.

Slowly (just because he wasn't sure of his equilibrium at the moment) Red made his way up the stairs to the trainers quarters. He unlocked his room and was greeted with a mirror. Oh God, is that what he looked like right now? It was a wonder Pikachu hadn't been scared of him, or Green for that matter. Both his eyes were blackened from recieving several punches to them, and his cheeks were swollen with several scratches along them. He grinned at himself to check out his mouth. He was relieved to find that all his teeth were where they should be.

He was too tired to try and clean himself up now, and ended up collapsing into his bed, deciding that tomorrow he'd challenge the gym and attempt to recieve his first badge.

* * *

**Yayyy, some real pokemon stuff in the next chapter!**


	4. Pewter City 2

**Chapter 4: Prevailing**

"When I walked into the pokecentre and saw Red beating up that other guy, it was probably the worst moment of my life. I know it sounds stupid because it wasn't me getting hurt, but it was. All the possible scenarios flashed in my head when I realised it was him - if he had kept going, he could have been knocked unconscious and might have had severe injuries that he'd need to go to hospital for. What if he had died? Then I'd have to tell his mum because well, I was the only one that knew him there. When I stepped in, I was frightened, but acting on adrenaline. I was scared I was going to have the shit beaten out of me. Red seemed rather unfussed about the whole thing, that's what's good about him, nothing _bothers _him. He just grins and shakes it off. I think that's because he'd had to deal with so much in his life," Green said, looking grim. He paused for a moment and then grinned. "But hey, he was winning the fight. He would have beaten that guy to a bloody pulp if no one had stepped in,"

* * *

A soft nudge on his arm interrupted Red's sleep. He blinked a few times, waking himself up and then looked around to find the source of the nudge. It was Pikachu, trying to wake him up. He sat up and was confused for a moment as to where he was. Eventually he remembered he was at the pokecentre in Pewter City, and that thought led onto him remembering the fight he had yesterday. He sighed internally, that was the stupidest thing he'd ever done. He was just acting on instinct and as a result of this, had a very damaged face and had given a very damaged face to someone else.

He stretched his arms, wincing slightly as they were sore from yesterday. He looked at them to see if they were alright. No bruises, just pain. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and slowly stood up. At least this didn't hurt. Once again, just like last night, he was greeted with a very oddly placed mirror. It was right there as soon as you opened the door. This time, he didn't get such a fright from his face. The swelling in his cheeks had gone down and they were normal size again. The scratches were still there, but very faint against his pale skin. The only real evidence you could tell he was in a fight was his two black eyes, both of them had deep bruising beneath them. He touched them warily, and wasn't surprised that they hurt.

He pulled his cap on and was happy to find that it covered his eyes quite nicely, making the black eyes look like little more than shadows. Red wasn't one to care what the public thought of him, but if he could do his best to disguise differences, then he would.

He decided rather than feeling down about the whole situation with the fight, he'd just forget about it. It was in the past and there was nothing he could do to change what had happened, so he would just take the experience and learn not to do it again, because getting into a fight probably isn't the best idea. Mind you, he'd been in one once before when he was ten with a neighbourhood kid. It hadn't been as bad as the one yesterday, but he had gotten a few punches. He _had _won though, the other kid ran off crying at the end. But he wasn't a violent person, really.

He unzipped his bag which had been sitting on his desk and fished out a clean shirt. He pulled off the one he was already wearing and replaced it with the new one. He made a mental note to find a laundrette in the town so he could do his washing. After this, he grabbed his pokeballs which had also been sitting on the desk and placed them in his bag. He decided that he was ready to go now and made his way downstairs and into the streets.

* * *

Last night as Red had been drifting off to sleep, he'd told himself he was going to challenge the gym. So he did. But right now, he was standing in front of the gigantic building, looking up at it in awe. It was so majestic looking, as if hundreds of years of battles had taken place right here. He'd never get anywhere if he was just _watching _the building though, so he tore himself away from it and pushed open the large doors. The inside was exactly the same as the outside in the sense of it being historic. The roof was so high and his steps echoed. It was a little eerie, but he liked it. The strange thing about the inside though, was that there were a few children's toys strewn around the floor. Red thought that this gave the place a little more character and colour, it seemed lived in.

"Hi there!" A voice echoed from across the room. Red looked around and found it belonged to a boy a few years older than him. He stepped forward and to be closer to him. "I'm Brock, Pewter's gym leader! I believe in rock hard defense and determination, that's why my pokemon are all the rock-type!" Red nodded in acknowledgement. "What's your name?" Red bit his lip down, it was a little awkward when he couldn't answer his name. "Are you okay?" Brock bent his knees to peer at him and unfortunately noticed his black eyes. "What happened to you?" He asked worriedly. Red glanced around, trying to avoid eye contact, when his gaze fell on a blackboard that was mounted on the wall. There were scribbles on it which he assumed were from the children whom the toys belonged to. He pointed to it and them at himself. Brock nodded, a little confused. "Sorry about the mess on it, my siblings love to play in the gym,"

Red grabbed a piece of chalk that was on the ground next to the board and started writing on it. _'My name is Red,' _He wrote. _'I can't talk, so that's why I didn't answer,'_

"Oh, sorry," Brock said awkwardly.

_'It's okay,' _He continued to write. _'You probably heard about the fight in the pokecentre yesterday, well, that's why I have two black eyes. I was winning, just so you know,' _This made Brock laugh. _'And I'd like to battle you for the Boulder Badge,'_

"Well, sure," Brock agreed. "I'll show you my best," The took up their positions on the floor. Red had never battled a gym leader before, so he was feeling a little nervous about the whole thing. But he felt like he could do it if he really put his mind to it. He sat Pikachu on the sidelines, because he knew electric types were weak against rock. He pulled a pokeball out his bag and released his Nidoran. It didn't have that much of a chance either, but it was a little better than Pikachu against rock types.

Brock held out a ball and released an Onix. "Use Bind, Onix!" He commanded, and the creature slunk up towards his Nidoran.

_'Jump behind it!' _Red said. _'And then use Horn Attack because it won't be expecting it!' _The move was executed perfectly and Onix was sent flying back into the wall of the gym. It got back up, weakened slightly but no where near fainting point. Red smirked at Brock's face. He was gaping, assumably because they had attacked without any verbal communication. Ten years down the track when he was still battling, Red still wasn't tired of this reacting from people.

"Bind again!" He yelled, but it was uncertain. He wasn't sure what to expect from his opponent now because he couldn't understand the gesture commands.

_'Repeat the same moves,' _Red said. _'You can use double kick as well. We can do this, buddy,' _And so the battle progressed like this. Onix was able to hit Nidoran a few times with his Tackle, and as such the pokemon was getting weaker. But on the fifth Horn Attack, Onix was thrown against the way and was unable to battle anymore.

"You did well," Brock mumbled as he recalled the pokemon. He grabbed another ball and released a Geodude. This would be easier to defeat than the Onix. "Geodude, use defense curl!" The pokemon brought its arms around itself and curled into a ball. A bright light began to glow around it.

_'Use Double Kick!' _Red commanded. Nidoran ran slowly over to Geodude and kicked it twice. The attack did nothing, and if anything the pokemon got up and appeared stronger. Nidoran was exhausted by this point and found it hard to run back towards Red.

"Quickly, tackle!" Brock called. Nidoran was sent skidding across the ground. It attempted to get back up, but this proved too difficult and its legs buckled beneath it and it fainted. Now it was all up to Pikachu. He couldn't use electric attacks, they were hardly effective, and now would be even less so because of Defense Curl.

_'Just use slam,' _Geodude unfortunately used Tackle at the same time, and both the creatures were badly injured, Geodude a little better off albeit. Red was getting nervous now, he couldn't lose. He wanted this more than _anything. 'Use it again,' _This was able to knock Geodude out, but the force of the attack also made Pikachu faint. He bent down and picked the little mouse up, its breathing was laboured and this concerned him a little. But he'd be able to take it to a pokecentre soon, so it would be okay, right?

"I think that was a draw, but a little more in your favour," Brock said, approaching Red. "I took you for granted because I didn't know how you'd command your pokemon without a voice, but it was incredible how you were able to. It demonstrated a real bond and understand with them, and that's important when you're a trainer. As proof of your victory, here's the Boulder Badge," He held out a little silver octagon and Red took it from his hands. This badge represented everything he wanted to be in life, and he felt extremely lucky to now be in possession of it. He had dreamed about earning one of these for years, and now he finally had one. It was like a dream come true, despite how clichéd that sounds.

_'Thank you,' _He wrote on the blackboard.

"You deserve it," Brock smiled. "There are all sorts of trainers in the world, some raise them for fights, some keep them as pets. I'm trained to become a breeder,"

_'I've never heard of pokemon breeding before,'_

"Not many people have," He replied. "I would like to be one of the pioneers of it. You seemed to be gifted at training, so if you take it seriously, you should go visit the gym in Cerulean City,"

_'I'm going there next," _Red said. _'And thank you, once again,' _He grabbed his bag from where he had placed it on the floor and exited out the gym. Once he was out of sight of anyone, he jumped up and down a few times in excitement. He had beaten a gym leader! He was one eighth into becoming the champion of Kanto, which was his dream. Then remembering how ill his pokemon were, he ran towards the pokecentre which was just a hundred metres away.

* * *

"Your pokemon have sustained quite a lot of injury," The nurse commented, inspecting them through the machine used to heal them. Red pulled out his badge and shower her. "Ah, you fought the gym," It was a different lady to yesterday, one that was quite a bit smarter than the other Joy. She had understood what he meant when he placed his pokeballs and Pikachu on the counter. "We might actually have to keep them here for a little longer than normal, they're both in a pretty terrible condition,"

This made Red extremely nervous. He had been worried when Pikachu's breathing had been so difficult, but he didn't realise how injured they were. What if they died? He was a horrible trainer, not caring about his pokemon and only wanting what he wanted. He felt awful, how could he be so selfish? They just _had _to be okay, they _had _to.

"Just take a seat over there," She pointed to an empty chair in the waiting room. "It might be a while,"


	5. Mount Moon

**Chapter 5: Disillusion**

"The world is a horrible place," Green said on behalf of Red, who was frantically signing away to him. "But if you look hard enough, you'll notice all the good things about it too. The good outweigh the bad, but the bad are just much more obvious,"

* * *

Red stared out the window of the pokecentre. It was oddly placed, right outside Mount Moon. Convenient though, it meant he didn't have to trek all the way back to Pewter City to get his pokemon healed. He was very reluctant in actually going into Mount Moon though - it was so large and creepy. So...dark. Pikachu tilted its head towards the mountain, clearly wanting to go. Red nodded, reluctantly accepting that they would have to go eventually. But he wasn't quite finished sitting in the warmth of the centre.

Everytime he looked at Pikachu, he saw the large scar extending from underneath its right eye to the top of the little red circle on its cheek from the battle with Brock. Its injuries had been a lot more severe than he had first realised and he had had to spend a day and a half in the centre making sure it was alright. Whenever he saw that scar, he felt incredibly guilty about being selfish and not looking after his pokemon properly. He knew that in the future it would serve as a constant reminder for this and he hoped it would make him a better person. Not just by guilt, but he would be reminded to hold himself back, rather than pushing everything to the limits.

Finally accepting the fact that he wasn't going to get any further if he just sat here, Red stood up and grabbed his bag from the ground next to his chair. Pikachu was following briskly at his feet, clearly excited to be up and moving again. They exited the pokecentre, and immediately Red felt a chill run through him. It was so warm inside, but outside it had dropped about six or seven degrees. He pulled his coat around himself and took a few steps so he was standing at the entrance of Mount Moon.

It was just _so big._

He felt incredibly daunted by it. It seemed so easy to get lost in, he could probably disappear in there and no one would ever find him. Sometimes Red just felt...small. He shook the nasty thoughts out of his head and took a step into the cave. Well, if he was able to make it this far, he'd be able to do the rest, he kept telling himself. He wasn't a very confident person a lot of the time. And hey, if he did get lost in the cave, he'd have Pikachu and his other pokemon, so he'd have some chance of getting out. All these things he told himself for reassurance.

It took him at least ten minutes to get used to the cave. It was so _dark _the further he got into it, and the stone walls were so cold he shivered when he touched them. In the distance he could hear Zubats squawking, which gave the whole place a really eerie atmosphere. He wanted to just run through the place so he could get out as quickly as possible. But there was an issue with that - he didn't know where he was going. He came upon a young girl, probably around his age who was standing against the wall, shivering out of fright. He would have tried to help her, but being who he was, it would have been too difficult. So he kept walking on.

He'd completely lost track of the time as everywhere he walked looked exactly the same and there seemed to be no exit in sight. He checked his watch and read that he'd been walking for about fourty-five minutes. He felt a little helpless, not knowing where he was, but he decided to ignore it and push on. His stupid doubts would not get him anywhere in situations like this.

"Boss'll be so happy when we catch a Clefairy and show it to him," There was a voice in the distance followed by a snigger from another person. Red wondered who they were and decided to follow the voice. He had his pokemon with him, he'd be safe enough. He'd walked about a quarter of a mile when he saw them just around the corner. They were two guys about five years older than him. This wouldn't have been out of the ordinary at all except for that they were both wearing identical black uniforms with a bright red 'R' written on the front of each of their shirts. He kept walking closer, not intending to approach them, but just to see what they were doing.

"Hey, there's a brat trying to ruin our operation!" One of them called as they noticed Red going past. He stopped walking and turned to face them.

"What do you think you're doing?" The other one sneered. He just shook his head, not entirely sure what was happening. "Well, we're Team Rocket, the most powerful organisation in the world!" He cackled. Red didn't realise it now, but this meeting was the beginning of something very large. Something that he would probably wish he didn't get himself into, but didn't really have a choice about it. But of course he didn't know this now, that's why hindsight is such an annoying thing.

"Yeah, and you're trying to butt in on our important mission for the boss," The other one added. "So we're going to gave to take you down so you don't get in our way," Red shook his head again, trying to tell them that he wasn't actually trying to do anything. If he could avoid conflict, then he'd try his best to. The first guy pulled his pokeball off his belt and released a Raticate. Being silent had made Red a much more observant person than anyone else he'd ever come across, and as such he could notice the differences in people's tone of voice and their expressions quite easily. When he'd first recieved his pokemon, he was surprised that they showed different emotions on their faces so blatantly like people, and as such was quite good and noticing how they were feeling. And this Raticate, it didn't appear happy. It even seemed to be angry at its trainer because its eyes seemed to narrow whenever it looked at him. "Use Tackle!" He commanded and it charged towards him.

_'Pikachu, used Thunderbolt!' _Well, that's all that it took and Raticate fell to the ground, unable to battle anymore. The guy recalled the pokemon angrily and glared first at Red and then at his friend.

"Go, Zubat!" The other yelled, releasing a Zubat into the air. "Use Confuse Ray," A beam of light was sent towards Pikachu, and the little mouse was left dizzy and swaying slightly.

_'Shake it off and then use Thunderbolt again,' _Red said. Because the creature was seeing stars, it wasn't able to understand exactly what Red and told it, and used Thunderbolt, but not correctly. Instead of hitting the Zubat, it hit itself and was left slight injured. _'Don't worry,' _He said nervously, bending down to pet it on the head. _'You can do it, just concentrate,' _It nodded and once again used Thunderbolt, but this time it actually hit Zubat, and it fell to the ground. Red couldn't believe how poor the pokemon were trained and how easily he was able to defeat them. Because well, he wasn't the strongest trainer out there. Not by a long shot (even though he wanted to be, more than anything).

The guy released a Rattata this time, and the battle progressed in much the same way. Once he'd defeated them, they stared angrily at him and one of them shouted. "Well, Team Rocket is powerful, so don't mess with us, okay? You'll regret it!" And then they turned back to what they were doing. Red was very confused, who were Team Rocket exactly? And why were they the most powerful organisation in the world? Surely if they were, he'd have heard of them before now. He decided that it didn't matter and these were probably just two crazed power-hungry guys that he'd never run into again. As he continued through the cave, he heard them in the background.

"You're absolutely horrible, Raticate," One of them hissed. "You can't battle at all, I should have just left you with your original trainer in the first place instead of stealing you," This made Red flinch. He didn't understand how someone could be so awful and abusive to their pokemon. And not only that, that pokemon _theft _occurred. He'd never realised it until now. He was absolutely disgusted, and this was really the point when he became quite disillusioned with the world. He'd known people could be harsh from personal experience (like in Pewter City), but he just hadn't realised how harsh.

And then he understood. Team Rocket were a criminal organisation. And this was about to be proved even further by the two Rockets and Meowth currently approaching him.


	6. Cerulean City

**Chapter 6: Rivalry**

"I was actually never really that disappointed whenever Red beat me," Green admitted. "If it was anyone else then I would have been, but because Red had it so much tougher than all of us, I was always just proud whenever he won. He really did so much more than what we all expected,"

* * *

"Hey, Red!" Green had spotted him from across the pathway and made his way over. "It's been a while since I've seen you, how's it going?"

_'Pretty good,' _He answered. For some reason, he was really relieved to see Green. He thought it was because everywhere he was travelling was so new and unknown to him that it was nice to see someone from where he came from. It gave him a sense of familiarity and even reassured him that everything was okay. Even though it was Green, and he _was _annoying and cocky and was always that little bit better than him. It wasn't fair! Why couldn't he succeed at something himself rather than always being outdone by his friend? That was a sore spot for him. So of course Green was already in Cerulean, _always _one step ahead. _'And you?'_

_'So good!' _He exclaimed. _'I've been catching so many pokemon! I think I already have about fourty entries in my pokedex!' _See? That's exactly what Red was talking about. _'So, your eyes are almost better,' _He commented, peering down underneath Red's hat.

_'...Yeah,' _Must he bring it up? Now that the relief of seeing Green had passed, Red found himself becoming increasingly annoyed by the guy and unable to put up with his antics. _'I know it was stupid of me to get in a fight, so you don't need to bring it up, okay?'_

_'Okay, fine," _He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. _'But you know, I do wonder what would have happened if I hadn't come along to break it up,'_

That was the last straw for Red, he couldn't deal with his arrogance right now, he was _not _in the mood at all. _'I'm going, Green,' _He said. _'You're being too full of yourself and it's hard to deal with, so I'm just going to be on my way, and so are you,' _He turned his back on his friend and began to walk off.

"Come on, Red!" He insisted. "I'm sorry for being rude!" This re-caught his attention and he turned around once again. "Can we at least battle?" He nodded and sent Pikachu off his shoulder and onto the ground. Green pulled a pokeball out his bag and released his Eevee.

* * *

"Good job!" Green laughed, attempting to cover his embarrassment of losing. "My rival needs to keep me sharp if I'm going to be a good trainer!" Red couldn't believe it, he'd beaten Green! What was he saying about always being second best? Well, now he _was _the best out of them at the one thing that he really wanted to be the _best _at. The satisfaction he felt was indescribable. Unless it was a fluke, of course. "Well, I have to be going to the next gym! Smell you later!" Red watched him walk down the path and back into Cerulean City, feeling relief that he'd finally left.

He continued walking up the pathway, feeling the cool sea breeze ruffle his hair. Though he'd loved travelling so far and had been fascinated with the places he visited, he had really missed the ocean, so it was really nice to finally be near it again. Red had observed over the years that if you live near the water, then you can't be away from it too long, otherwise you'll miss it because it becomes a large part of your life. He knew it wasn't just him that felt this way, but everyone in Pallet Town and anyone else who lived near it. He loved big cities though, they were so much more fun and interesting than little towns like Pallet. So Cerulean City had made a big impression on him, it was a city and it was right near the ocean.

Even though it had the highest crime rate in Kanto.

That didn't bother him.

He liked danger, it was exciting.

"Hey, you," He looked away from the ocean towards the voice. It came from a young boy, probably around his age. He believed the class for them was 'Youngster', he supposed he'd probably be classified as that too, but they didn't tend to travel a lot unlike him. "We're the Nugget Bridge Trainers, and we'd like to challenge you! If you beat all five of us, you win a prize!" He glanced around and noticed there were four others, as well as an older guy who had a suspiciously familiar black hat on. He nodded and Pikachu jumped onto the ground again, just as it had not even twenty minutes ago. "Rattata, go!" He released the purple rat and it hissed angrily at Pikachu, who seemed to laugh in its own way, as if saying _"Check out this guy,"_.

_'Just hit each one with a Thunderbolt,' _Red said. He and Pikachu had formed a bond over the past month of so they'd been travelling and as such, the little mouse almost always knew what to do in situations like these. It was very handy. And that's how every battle along the pathway progressed, right up until he got to the guy with familiar hat. He didn't want to toot his own horn or anything, but for some reason he was better than these people at battling. He didn't know why, he faced so much more difficulty than everyone else. But it was nice to be good at something, he'd never particularly excelled at anything else before.

"Congratulations, you beat our five contestant trainers!" The older guy said. "As promised, you win a fabulous prize!" He held out his hands and in them was a shiny stone. Red picked it up, wary of what it was and why he was being given it. "It's a nugget, and it's legitimately for you," He continued, sensing his hesitation. "Also, would you like to join Team Rocket?" Oh, so _that's _where he'd seen the hat before, on those people in Mount Moon.

But like hell he was going to join Team Rocket. They disgusted him.

"In case you haven't heard of us, we're a group dedicated to the...manipulation of the world using pokemon," He explained, his face seemed to be glowing with pride as he explained his organisation. It was because of this Red lost faith in humans for quite a while. "So, you want in?" Red shook his head frantically. "Are you sure?" More shaking. "Come on, join us!" Still no. "Fine then, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse!" He pulled a pokeball off his belt and released an Ekans.

_'Pikachu, you can do it!' _Red would have been worried about the wellbeing of his pokemon after those six battles, one of them being Green, but they were easy enough that Pikachu wasn't really hurt at all and was ready enough for another battle. _'Use a Thundershock, and if that doesn't do it, then follow up with a Slam!'_

"Ekans, use Poison Sting!" And well, let's just say that this battle was basically the same as the other five before him before him. He recalled his pokemon angrily and grunted in annoyance. "With your ability, you could become a top leader in Team Rocket," This really angered Red. He despised Team Rocket with a passion after he'd heard that guy abusing his Raticate in Mount Moon. He found it horrible what they did and did not want to have any association whatsoever with such an evil organisation. So to answer, he just glared the the guy and stormed off into the distance.

* * *

Red peered in through the open door of the house on top of the ledge north of Cerulean. He had been told by several people in town to visit Bill, who apparently was the guy who invented the pokemon storage system, something that many trainers across the region used extensively. So the least he could do was go visit him, even though communication would probably be a little difficult. He was guessing this was his house, as it was the only one along the coast here. There were also lots of electronics on the inside, which seemed fitting for someone who invented something for the computer. Deciding that it was probably the right place, he stepped inside.

He had taken no more than two steps, when a strange looking creature ran up to him. He leant down and petted its head, which was more of a shell. It was weird and cold. Pikachu was reacting weirdly towards the pokemon, staring at it in confusion and occasionally circling it.

"Hi, I'm a pokemon!" The creature said, making Red jump. He had not been expecting it to talk, and that scared him out of his wits. It laughed when it saw his reaction. "No, I'm not. I'm Bill and I'm a true blue Pokemaniac! Hey, what's with that skeptical look?" He hadn't even realised he'd been pulling a face and he frowned once it was brought to his attention. "I'm not joshing you!" Bill insisted. "I screwed up an experiment and got combined with a pokemon, and I need help getting back to normal. So can you help?" Red nodded, still confused about what was happening. "When I'm in the teleporter over there," He motioned towards a fancy looking metal tube. "Go to my computer and run the Cell Separation System. Just click run, it does its own thing after that,"

Red found the program on the computer and pressed run. It was easy enough, but he still found the task daunting because if there was one thing that Red couldn't do, it was technology. He was basically illiterate when it came to that sort of thing. He'd tried to learn how to use the computer, but he could never get the hang of it properly - Green had given him so much crap about that. He wasn't dumb in any other way, he could read and write at an advanced level and could perform maths adequately, but he just could _not _do technology.

There was a whooshing noise and then Red found another guy standing inside the other tube on the opposite side of the computer. He stepped out and stood in front of Red. "Thanks, bud!" He grinned. "I owe you one," Red responded with how he usually responded in situations like this - by staring up with his wide eyes at whoever was addressing him. "You're mute, aren't you?" He was taken aback by this, not once had anyone he'd just met guessed that he didn't talk. He was glad Bill had though, it saved a lot of time with explaining.

He nodded and then pointed to a piece of paper on the desk. If he couldn't talk to people through sign language, then writing would suffice. Bill nodded and handed him a pen which he'd had in his pocket. _'Yeah, I'm mute,' _He wrote. _'How did you know?'_

"It's in your eyes," Bill explained. "They have a lot more depth to them than most people have because unconsciously you'd be trying to communicate with them because you can't speak,"

_'How do you know that?' _He was impressed with his knowledge, because even he didn't know that about his eyes. He touched them self consciously, half because Bill could read them, and half because they were still partially blackened.

"Because I'm a nerd," He chuckled. "And I'll admit that because _I _know I am. Hey, also, why didn't you just use the computer to type what you wanted to say? It's probably a bit easier,"

Now it was Red's turn to chuckle, but his was silent. _'I'm not very good at computers,' _He felt stupid saying this to the guy who invented the _whole_ Pokemon Storage System - he was probably the smartest person with computers in all of Kanto. He felt small and insignificant.

"That's okay," Bill said. "A lot of people are, but like I said, I'm a nerd,"

It fell silent for a moment while Red tried to think of something to relieve the awkwardness. _'You met Green, I'm guessing?'_

"Oh yes," He replied. "He's a...nice guy,"

_'You're lying,'_

"Not lying exactly," He began slowly. "He was nice _enough_, but he seemed to love himself a little,"

_'Very much so,' _Red nodded with gusto. He was still annoyed at his friend for earlier. _'We're both from Pallet Town,'_

"I see," Bill said. "Well, I don't want to sound rude, but you're the nicer one of the two,"

_'Thank you!' _You don't understand how nice it was for him not be overlooked for once.

"You're welcome," He laughed. "Oh! I need to give you something to repay you for helping me out earlier," He fished about in his pockets and when he found nothing there, he cleared away some of the mess on his desk and ended up presenting Red with a ticket of somesort. "This is for the luxury cruise liner S.S Anne that docks in Vermilion City, all of its passengers are trainers, so I think it would be right up your alley," Red took the ticket out of Bill's hands. The edges of it were shiny and it seemed really posh. "They invited me to the party they have, but I can't stand fancy do's. You should go instead of me, that was someone is getting good use out of it,"

_'Thanks, once again,' _He nodded and left Bill's place. He supposed he was on his way to Vermilion City then (which he didn't mind, that was right by the ocean!), but first was the Cerulean Gym.

* * *

**Please, please, please if you read this, review! I like nice reviews! :)**


	7. Vermilion City

This chapter is so cruddy, but I've got complete writer's block. I have ideas for other chapters, just not for these filler ones :\

* * *

**Chapter 7: Exhaustion**

"I'm so thirsty," The Gatekeeper whined when Red had tried to cross through in Saffron City. "Sorry, the gate's closed," And he hadn't been allowed through. This was frustrating as it was the only way through to the city, so he had no idea how we was going to get through now. Disheartened, he trudged out of the building and back onto the street where he had come from. The sun was blaring down and he had to shield his eyes from the glare - even his hat wasn't helping. This also meant it was really hot, and he could feel his hair beginning to stick to his forehead, it was gross. He was no longer anywhere near the sea, so the area wasn't recieving any breeze anymore, which was not helping the temperature cool down.

"They're ridiculous, aren't they?" A boy who had also been trying to get through to Saffron said. He had been standing outside the building with Red, looking angry. "Just because they're not happy, they don't let anyone else through," Red nodded, feeling just as ripped off as this guy. "But I'll tell you something," He tapped his nose, chuckling. "Just up the path here, there's an underground path that goes below Saffron and leads you to Vermilion City. Not many people know about it, but it's handy and is a good shortcut,"

So that's where Red was right now, walking along this seedy undergroud path. There was hardly any light, just a few dim lamps every twenty metres or so, and as such it made the place feel dangerous, as if someone might be around the corner waiting to mug him. Red _did _like danger, but not danger that no one could help. The place was also really dank and damp - there were leaks from above the city, so puddles were collecting against the walls, leaving them really musty smelling and yellow in colour. All in all, it wasn't a very pleasant place to be.

As he was walking along (trying not to freak out and run), he was wishing he was back in Cerulean City. It seemed like an extrememly pleasant place compared to here, and whenever you're in a desperate sort of situation, anything seems nicer. He wished he was sitting in the pokecentre all rugged up and warm. It was a comforting thing to think about. To keep his mind off the tunnel, he also replayed his battle with Misty, the gym leader of Cerulean. It had been a really tough fight even though he had the advantage due to Pikachu.

_'Pikachu, use thunderbolt one last time!' He commanded, watching the Staryu sway slightly in the water. It was close to fainting, he could tell. But so was Pikachu, so he had to be careful. 'But go easy on yourself, only a little one should do the trick,' Pikachu nodded and slowly walked up to Staryu. It wasn't even putting up a fight anymore. Pikachu zapped it quickly and it fell into the water. Misty smiled slightly and recalled it into its ball. Pikachu was breathing heavily, but managed to walk back over to Red, who picked it up into his arms. Its wounds were no where near as severe as they had been when he had fought Brock, and this he was glad of. He felt he had become a better trainer and was able to moderate how he used his pokemon in battle._

_"Congratulations," Misty approached him, holding out a little blue badge. "You can have the Cascade Badge to show you've beaten me," He picked it up and inspected it. It was super shiny and had a tiny little gemstone up the top of it, it was very pretty. "That was a really good battle," She continued absentmindedly. "I haven't fought someone as tough as you in a long time, it felt really good. Thank you," He smiled in response, as it seemed rude not to. "But seriously, I have a feeling you're going to go places. You seem to have a real talent at battling," She giggled for some reason. "So, good luck,"_

Pikachu was in front of him by about fifteen metres, guiding him. He was thankful for this, he didn't feel _as _threatened. Suddenly, the little creature's ears perked up and it ran forward. This freaked Red out, as he was already feeling a little frightened, so he broke into a sprint, rushing through the rest of the path. But as he came close to Pikachu, he realised the only reason it was running was because it had found the stairs that led out of the horrific little tunnel. He was _so _relieved that that was just the reason. He hadn't realised how frightened he'd actually been and he wiped his palms on his pants, they were shaking.

He walked up the steps and was incredibly glad to see the sunlight again, even though he had been annoyed by it only half an hour earlier. He leant against the building of the underground tunnel to catch his breath and let his heartbeat slow down. Once it had returned to a normal pace, he glanced down at his watch. It read four-thirty in the afternnon. Wow, was it really that late? He could swear that it had only been around eleven when he was left Cerulean. Well, there was no point in feeling bad about the time, he couldn't change it. So instead he hitched his bag up onto his back as it had been falling down and headed down the path that would hopefully lead him to Vermilion City.

* * *

He felt the sea breeze ruffle his hair slightly and a smile made its way onto his face. He was close to the water, he could feel it. But it was getting dark and he probably wouldn't be able to proceed any further down the path and through the grass without stumbling blindly and tripping over. As much as he wanted to get to the ocean, he knew it was safer to just camp out here for tonight and work on getting there tomorrow. Plus, the trees were getting really eerie as there was less light. They seemed to extend forever and loom over him, as if they could eat him. In the background he could hear the cries of various nocturnal pokemon and he took this as the sign to stop for the night.

He found a somewhat clear patch of grass and lay down his sleeping bag. He never was fond of sleeping outside, especially with no tent, but tonight he really had no choice. He pulled his cap off and removed his vest before slipping into the sleeping bag. It was so uncomfortable and he felt so exposed, as if anyone could just come up and steal his things. He curled up on his side and shut his eyes, filling his mind with nice thoughts of battling and winning against gym leaders. Every so often a worry would find its way back into his thoughts and he'd have to shake his head to get rid of it.

No matter how hard he tried to fall asleep though, it just wouldn't come, and this frustrated him. He tossed and turned but was just not able to fall into a slumber, not even a light one. He glanced at his watch after what had felt like hours and saw that it in fact _had _been hours. He'd gotten into the sleeping bag at nine, and now it was one in the morning. He felt like crying, why couldn't he fall asleep? He was tired, but not sleepy! He imagined everyone else in Kanto tucked up and asleep, while he was lying in the grass cold and wide awake. He frowned and turned on the other side, there was nothing he could actually do until the next morning besides try and sleep.

* * *

Well, it was the first time he was awake to see a sunrise. But it wasn't as nice as it could have been because he was absolutely exhausted from not getting any sleep during the night. He sat up when he first saw the light and rubbed his heavy eyelids so he could watch. No matter what he did though, he wasn't able to see it properly because of the mass of trees getting in the way of the sky. Red was tired, and as such, such a little thing annoyed him and he _wanted _to watch the sunrise. Not really not knowing what he was doing, he stuffed his sleeping bag into his bag (to roll up later) and nudged Pikachu awake. The little mouse protested, but got up when Red glared at it. His plan was to chase the sunrise, so he'd catch it as he was getting to the beach, and that involved sprinting at full speed into Vermilion City.

It was a fair bit further than he'd expected and took around twenty minutes of running as fast as he could to finally reach the shoreline. He supposed that he looked rather funny running through the city, but it was early and there was hardly anyone out. He'd hit that stage of exhaustion when you're absolutely hyperactive and he felt strange. He'd never felt like it before. But it was worth the running, the sunrise was absolutely marvellous. First the sky turned a light pink, somewhat like fairy floss. Then it changed to a deeper red and finally progressed to the light blue of an early morning.

When Red turned back towards the city, he was surprised to see that the town was now alive and all of its citizens seemed to be out in the streets either talking to one another or shopping from little vendors that lined the footpath. It was nice, it seemed like a proper little community. He wandered through the streets, taking in the sights. It was lovely seaside city and every building seemed to be the same colour, making it quite interesting to look at.

"Cruise liner S.S Anne is beginning boarding now," A large voice echoed from a loudspeaker that was attached to a lamp post. Red pulled the ticket out of his pocket and glanced at the details. He hadn't realised that it was today. Spotting the large ship docked into the harbour and still hyperactive from exhaustion, he sprinted towards it.

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**Please review if you like it!**


	8. SS Anne

This chapter is probably even more boring, I'm sorry.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Wealth**

"You're Bill?" The guide who was checking his ticket asked, staring at him and trying to find the similarities between him and the various pictures he'd seen of the famous Pokemaniac. Red just grinned and nodded his head. "Well, okay..." He mumbled, punching a hole in the end of the ticket to show that it had been approved. "Just come with me, I'll take you to your room," Red was led through the hallways of the ship and to a private cabin. Man, Bill wasn't lying when he said the S.S Anne was a luxury liner. _Everything _was burgundy and gold. He felt a little out of place, everyone he had seen roaming the ship so far were in suits or formal dresses and were most obviously rich. Yet here he was in his jeans, vest and cap. He could tell that they were looking down on him, as if he wasn't one of them and therefore didn't deserve to be on the ship. It made him feel shy and small.

And wow, the ship was so _massive. _Surely they'd been walking for at least ten minutes by now.

"Here's your cabin," The guide pointed to room 3A. "Call if you need something. Some of the passengers are trainers and would like to battle, so don't be surprised if you're challenged," And then he was left to explore the ship himself. He opened the door to his cabin and was surprised at how furnished it was. He'd only ever been on little ships around the port in Pallet, and the rooms in those had always had the bare minimum - a hammock or a bed if he was lucky. But this was something different entirely. It had a double bed with a fancy embroided quilt and across from that was a television. In the corner was a couch and a little kitchen with a small oven. Wow, why did they need so much in every cabin? But he wasn't going to argue, it was nice and something he'd probably never be able to afford again.

Feeling a little overwhelmed by the scale of the ship and the people on it (and probably because he was so tired), he took a seat on the bed and kicked his shoes off. It was awfully comfortable, almost rivalling that of his bed at home. Speaking of, he hadn't slept in a very comfortable bed since he had left home, so this was quite a novelty. He curled up and lay on the bed, closing his eyes for a moment. He could feel the ship rocking gently from the waves and he felt suddenly at ease, they were so comforting. It was so nice to be near the ocean, he almost felt like he was back home...

There was a large jolt and this awoke Red. Why had he been able to sleep so easily that time? He blinked a few times, adjusting to the sudden light, and then sat up. The jolt forward was just the ship going over a big wave, but the ship was still left somewhat rocking. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. The luxury of this place still had the same impact as it first had and he continually found himself questioning how so much money could be spent on one thing rather than using it to fix other problems in the world. He liked justice.

Pikachu was asleep on the floor next to the bed, and he nudged the little mouse with his foot to wake it up. Since he was here, he might as well go out into the ship and see what it was like. He roamed the halls for a while, trying to find his way around. They all looked the same with row after row of cabins and occasionally there would be a window at the end of each corridor. Eventually he managed to locate the deck, and he breathed in deeply once he stepped out into the fresh air. It was salty, like a sea should be, and everything felt right because of this. There were no words to describe how much Red _actually _loved the ocean.

There was a pool and table tennis set up on the deck, which appeared populated by most of the ship's guests judging by how crowded it was. He didn't have much desire to go swimming or play table tennis anyway, so he pushed through the the masses of people, causing a few annoyed stares and 'what are you doing?'s, but eventually made his way to the edge of the deck. He was content just to stand against the railing and watch the waves in the distance. So he did. He was daydreaming about winning the Pokemon League and how exciting it would be. It was the _only _thing he wanted, and if he achieved that, he'd be happy for the rest of his life. He couldn't see it happening, but he was going to try as hard as he could to make it.

He closed his eyes and pictured it in his head. He was in a large arena with thousands of people all watching intently as Pikachu delivered a last Thunderbolt. In his daydream, the Champion was a water pokemon trainer so he had a big advantage. The final Gyarados dropped into the water, unconscious. A massive cheer would go up from the audience, all celebrating his win. He would shake hands with the now ex-Champion and then his name would be recorded into the Indigo Plateau history books. He opened his eyes again and smiled, he was going to try even harder now.

He noticed another boy coming towards the railing as well. He had dark hair and was wearing a cap somewhat like his. Red took note of this, because he hadn't seen anoyone else dressed similarly to him.

"Hey, I'm Gold," The boy grinned at Red. "Isn't this ship so fancy? My mum scored two tickets from some competition she entered at the Radio Tower in Goldenrod City, so we decided to go for a trip. I'm not sure I like it though, I feel a bit out of my depth because everyone looks so rich. We're not," He laughed. "We'd never be able to afford this if not for the competition," Red nodded politely. Even if he did speak he wouldn't be sure what to make of this boy. "What's your name?"

Red looked around the deck for something of his namesake and found that the colour of the table tennis tables were red. So he pointed to them.

"Red, hey?" Gold said. "That's kind of cool. I like the colour Red, Gold is boring, it's so shiny and girly. I'm eleven, and I can't _wait _until I can be a trainer. Three more years, that's way too long to wait!" He rolled his eyes. The way Gold spoke was very disjointed, as if his mind was racing at a speed his mouth couldn't keep up with. It was humorous, but Red assumed it was how most eleven year olds spoke. "How old are you?" Red held ten fingers and then four. "Fourteen? That's _so _lucky! You must be a trainer!" Red nodded, a little embarrassed. He liked the boy though, he didn't seem judgemental at all, and that was a _very _lovely break from the usual. So far he'd asked no questions about why he wasn't talking, and he really appreciated that. "I'm from Johto though, so it'll be a little different. We don't have the same starter pokemon as Kanto, but that's okay. Ours are pretty cool too. Sorry that I talk too much, everyone always tells me that I do and for me to slow down, but I can't. I just have too much to say," Red smiled. _That's funny, _He thought. _People say I don't talk enough._

"But I like you," He continued. "You're willing to listen and you're not getting annoyed with me," There was a shout over the top of everyone else, that sounded somewhat like "Gold!". His face fell and he stared out over the ocean. "I have to go. Are you going to that fancy party they're having tonight?" A fancy party? That was the first Red had heard of this. He shrugged his shoulders to answer. "Well, okay. I might see you there. Also, when I become a trainer, I'd like to battle you," Then Gold turned away and ran off to find his mother.

Red turned back towards the ocean and smiled. There were good and accepting people out there, you just had to be lucky to come across them.


	9. SS Anne 2

Thank you all for the lovely reviews, I really appreciate them all :)

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"Red has a really expressionless face," Green commented. "I don't think he realises that most people can't really tell when he's smiling or frowning, particularly when he stares with his wide eyes at you. I've known him for long enough that I can read the little movements in his face, so I understand what he's feeling most of the time. For example, a little twitch at the corners of his mouth constitutes him either grinning or smiling, so I can tell when he's happy. It's handy,"

* * *

**Chapter 9: Cut**

The cruise lasted for three days and sailed just around Vermilion Harbour. Having so much free time, Red didn't know what to do with himself, so he spent most of the time wandering the corridors looking for people to battle or standing on the deck watching the ocean. But today was the last day and if he was correct, they were due to dock back into the harbour in about three hours or so. Right now he was just roaming through various hallways, trying to pass the time. He'd just walked past a whole lot of doors and rounded a corner when a familiar face made an appearance.

_'Bonjour, Red!' _He could see Green's exaggerated gestures from across the hallway as he approached him. _'Imagine seeing you here!'_

_'Yeah,' _He narrowed his eyes. _'I could say the same thing about you,' _Why did he have to be here? Couldn't he _ever _get a break from this? It was as if someone had it in for him and felt that someone better always had to be lorded over him and make him feel bad about his abilities. He just didn't understand why he couldn't do this by himself, and why Green had to be everywhere he was _all the time. _He hated it, it made him so frustrated. He could never be the best because Green would always be there, either being better than him or teasing him.

_'Were you really invited?' _He continued, raising one of his eyebrows. _'Because no offense, but this is a high class sort of ship. I mean, I only got an invite because of Gramps, he gets all these sorts of things but never wants to go,'_

Seriously? How did he get away with being so rude? If Red hadn't been in a brawl recently, then he'd probably have no aversion to punching Green in the face right now. Why did he look down upon him so much? He wasn't that bad of a person... _'Oh, do fuck off,' _He replied instead, clenching his hands into fists to calm himself down. He didn't usually swear like that, but he was angry, Green had no right to be so rude. _'I'm not as stupid as you think I am,'_

_'I know,' _Green sighed. There were a few moments of silence as neither boy really knew what to say. It was awkward and Red wanted something, _anything _to break it. _'So,' _It was Green that broke it. _'Want to battle?'_

_'Sure,'_

* * *

The battle hadn't been going very well at all, losses were even on both sides, but that didn't matter. What did matter was that the Charmander Red had received in Cerulean City was currently sitting on on the ground, blatantly ignoring the frantic hand gestures he was making for it to attack..

He hadn't had the Charmander for very long at all. Just long enough to train it with sign language, and he'd ever only been in a few easy battles with it. It had proved much more difficult to train than any of the other pokemon he'd either caught or received and he assumed this was because it still didn't trust him. He knew that it had been abandoned and forced upon him, so some trust issues were inevitable. But still, did it have to do this right in the _middle _of a battle? If it wasn't against Green it wouldn't be so bad...

_Red was was just about at Nugget Bridge and was heading back down into the city after visiting Bill when he heard a peculiar sound coming from near the trees. It sounded like crying. Red stopped mid-step and looked around, and well, found a boy sobbing. Feeling kind of bad if he didn't do anything, Red approached him. He didn't seem to be upset though, he just seemed to be angry. He was kicking the tree trunk and his hands were curled into fists as if he wanted to punch it as well. Red hovered around him awkwardly, not really sure what to do._

_The boy seemed to notice Red and turned around, trying to smile. "I'm not good at raising pokemon," He said. "I should just release my Charmander," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokeball. Red shook his head frantically and placed his hand on the ball to prevent him from opening it. He couldn't do this, he just had to try harder! If Red was able to train pokemon well, than certainly anyone that _spoke _should be able to as well. "You want it?" The boy replied, looking at his hand on the ball curiously. Red shook his head again and pointed to the boy. "No, really," He insisted. "Take it, it will be better off with you," He pushed the ball into Red's hands and then turned away and ran off, not giving him a second glance._

_Red placed the ball into his bag with the others and thought about what just happened. He didn't understand most of it, but he had been given a free pokemon. He wasn't complaining, but he felt bad about the Charmander which had just been abandoned. He'd try his hardest to make it happy, it didn't deserve to be thrown away._

_'Just attack!' _Red signed desperately. _'Just do anything!' _Yet it was still ignoring him. He was angry and frustrated, and wanted to kick and silently scream and sob until it would just listen to him and attack. This was a matter of pride, he couldn't just let Green walk all over him. He'd never hear the end of how much better he was the himself, which he wasn't prepared to deal with. And it was also his dream to be the Champion, and if he couldn't even get his pokemon to listen to him, what chance did he have? He felt like crying...

But he couldn't, because that would be losing face in front of Green, which was just as bad as losing the battle.

"Raticate, use Hyper Fang!" Red stepped backwards as the creature charged towards his Charmander. It would obviously be unable to battle any further once the attack hit, and even though he didn't want it to, he hoped that it would learn a lesson about listening. He looked away as it was hit with the attack and then recalled it into its ball without looking. He didn't want to see the damage done.

_'Pikachu, just use Thunderbolt,' _He replied lamely. But wow, he seriously underestimated how powerful Pikachu's Thunderbolt was.

They were both down to their last pokemon - Pikachu and Raticate. He just wanted to take a stab at it, see how effective it was, he thought he was going to lose anyway. And well, apparently it was extremely effective. Not only did it make Raticate unable to battle after one hit, it also appeared to make the pokemon wince in pain before collapsing to the ground. He'd never seen that happen when an attack was used before. It was breathing really heavily too, as if it was incredibly difficult for the small creature. He felt instantly remorseful, he hadn't meant for it to hurt so much, he just wanted to win.

Green stared down at his injured pokemon, confusion flashing across his face. He obviously hadn't been expecting the attack to be quite so strong. He bent down and for some reason Red didn't know, he placed his ear close to the unconscious creature's chest. He seemed to be checking if it was breathing correctly. Another look of confusion and then concern. He recalled it into its ball and stared intently at it in his hand, his eyebrows furrowing together in worry. Red didn't understand why he was behaving like this. Pikachu's attack hadn't been _that _powerful...

"Well, at least you're raising your pokemon correctly," He spat, shoving the ball angrily into his bag. He glared at Red for a moment and then oddly enough, the angry expression on his face changed into one of real concern. He shook his head and frowned. "There's no use in being angry at you, Red," He sighed. "I lost, that's my fault,"

_'You're being gracious,' _Red eyed him nervously. _'Something must be up,'_

_'No, no! Not at all!' _He switched back to sign language. As mentioned before, Red was very in tune with reading people's expressions and could almost instantly tell how they were feeling by little twitches in their eyebrows or tugs at the sides of their mouths. Because of knowing Green for so long, Red could read his face moreso than he could anyone elses. Right now his eyebrows were knitted together in a deep concern and Red could tell that he was really worried about his Raticate. With fair reason too, he felt guilty and he hoped it would be okay. There was a little niggling part of him though that felt a little bit satisfied for upsetting Green. He'd been so nasty to him over the years, this was just his payback for it all.

_'Well, okay...' _He answered, not really sure how else to help.

_'I heard there was a Cut master on board,' _He shrugged, obviously trying to change the conversation. _'But it was just some seasick old man,' _He laughed very loudly and very hollowly. Red could see through it though, and he could tell that inside Green was still worrying. _'But Cut itself is really useful, you should go see him,'_

_'I will, thanks,'_

_'I'm...uh, going to go,' _He mumbled. _'Smell ya,' _Red watched him hurry briskly out of there and down the stairs. He wondered briefly where he was going, but then decided it wasn't important and decided to go find this 'Cut' master. Green had come from the Captain's quarters, so it was probably best to head that way. He walked up the next stairs and popped his head around the doorway, which belonged to the Captain. But instead of finding him steering the ship, he found the old man hunched over the wastebasket.

"Oh, hi," He groaned, looking up for a moment. "I'm the Captain, nice to meet you," There was a little jolt of the ship and this made the Captain hurl himself back over the basket, throwing up everything he had eaten in the last twenty-four hours. Red winced, unable to watch. Once the hurling sounds were over, he covered his nose and proceeded into the room. The Captain still appeared rather pale, so Red cautiously placed his hand on his back and rubbed it up and down. Eventually his breathing returned to a normal pace and he was able to stand up properly. "Thank you," He smiled warmly. "I sail ships, yet I always get seasick. It's quite awful, really. And I never learn," He added at the end with a laugh. "I feel a bit better now," Red nodded in response.

The Captain left the wastebasket and moved over to his desk. Red was a little concerned as to why he wasn't steering, but decided not to worry, this guy _did _know what he was doing, right? "You probably ran into that other boy who was just in here,"

_'Yeah, I did,' _Red said and then remembered that not everyone could sign. He didn't often make that mistake, but sometimes force of habit made him. Unfortunately, the Captain noticed this and made a wrong assumption about him.

"Oh, you're deaf," He gasped. "I didn't realise," Red shook his head and pointed to his throat. "You can't talk?" He nodded and the Captain smiled. But the damage was already done, he didn't talk to him like an equal anymore, as so many people didn't. "That's okay, don't worry about not being able to talk. But as I was saying, I do think that the move Cut is very helpful. It is a move that allows the pokemon who know it to cut down small trees. It can also be used in battle. Do you know what battling is?" Red nodded and rolled his eyes. Everything was so frustrating! "I like to give the move to people that come and visit me, and since you did come and visit me, I shall give Cut to you," He pulled open a drawer in his desk and fished around for something. He pulled out a little silver obejct and handed it to Red. "Here you go, this is _Cut_," Red slipped it into the front pocket of his bag, reminding himself to use it later on.

Something important seemed to catch the Captain's attention in his drawer that was still open and he tutted to himself. "It's time to arrive in Vermilion Harbour! I'd lost track of time!" Red glanced down at the clock in the drawer and realised that indeed four hours had gone by. "I'm sorry, I have to steer the ship now," Red nodded and let himself out of the room, not feeling any better about himself (as he was already feeling crappy due to his Charmander and Green constantly looking down at him) than he had when he had gone in there.

He retreated back into his cabin and packed his things up. Soon afterwards an announcement was made that they had arrived back at Vermilion Harbour and that they were able to depart the ship. Red joined the long queue of people, a little annoyed that he had to wait so long to leave. But after he took his first few steps back on steady land, he found that it was worth the wait.

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**Reviews, please?**


	10. Vermilion City 2

**Chapter 10: Seaside**

Green sat facing Red, occasionally looking at the interviewer in front of them. Red was signing quickly, and Green was translating. "I still remember getting back into Vermilion City," He said. "It was one of those perfect moments. I still recall the smell of the ocean and saltiness, just everything was great about it. I don't know why I liked it so much, but I remember it being comforting. I wasn't homesick exactly, but the ocean always made me feel calm, as if I _was _back home and just a kid still. It was nice..."

* * *

As soon as Red saw the little seaside city, he was overcome with an inexplainable excitement and he couldn't help but break into a full-on sprint down the ramp from the ship leading into Vermilion City. He had to run through the crowds of people also trying to depart the ship, and some of them weren't so pleased about his and called out some unsavoury things to him as he rushed by. He didn't let it bother him though, because he'd probably never see these people again. Once he'd hit level ground, he set his sights on the pokecentre and began to jog towards it. He'd slowed down quite a bit now for two reasons. One being that he wasn't as excited as he'd been when he'd taken that first glance at the city; and two being that it was much easier to run downhill than it was to run on a normal angle.

It was getting quite late in the day and Red was feeling fairly tired from being on 'holiday' and battling Green. He just wanted to have his pokemon healed and then go to sleep, that way he'd be fine the next day, which he had plans to challenge the Vermilion Gym Leader, Lieutenant Surge on. He had been feeling a little unsettled after his fight with Green. He'd never seen a pokemon so badly damaged before, not even Pikachu had been like that after their battle with Brock (and it had a scar from that!). He kept pushing the thought out of his mind, but he kept picturing the poor creature lying helpless on the ground, struggling to breathe.

In his rush, he hadn't realised he'd gone straight by a police officer who he could now hear tutting away. He came to a halt and walked back towards her, feeling nervous. He didn't want to be arrested, he hadn't done anything wrong! She was shaking her head, but as he neared her, he saw that there was also a small smile playing on her lips.

"You almost knocked me over!" She laughed. "You were in quite a rush to get to the pokecentre, weren't you?" He nodded, still worried. She could lord her authority over him at any moment. "Why are you so scared? I'm not going to arrest you," He internally breathed the biggest sigh of relief, feeling so glad that he wasn't in trouble. She seemed to be in good spirits though, he wouldn't try and test them. That was okay to do with some people, but _not _on police officers. "I'm Officer Jenny. What might your name be?"

Red glanced around once again for something of the colour that was his namesake and eventually pointed the the roof of the pokecentre.

"Pokecentre?" She looked at him with an expression of confusion. He shook his head. "Red?" This time he nodded. "Well, nice to meet you," She smiled. "You seem like a good kid, but I'll let you get back to your business with the Pokecentre," This time _he _smiled in acknowledgement. "You know," She continued as he turned to go. "You should carry around a little sign that says _'I can't talk'_, it'll probably help clear a lot of confusion you might ever come across," He was walking away now, wanting to get to the Pokecentre as it was getting dark. "If you meet any strong trainers, send them my way!" She called. "There's a Squirtle that has been causing trouble and needs a tough trainer to straighten it out,"

He broke into a run again, this time it was because he was annoyed. That lady wasn't very nice, even if she was an officer. Why did she think that suggesting he carry a sign was appropriate? It was almost making fun of him. If he was able to _speak up_, he would have given her a piece of his mind. She had no right to say that, he could deal with whatever was thrown his way and come out a better person from it. He'd been doing that his whole life, it wasn't as if the whole concept was foreign to him.

Red was a very patient person and could listen for hours to someone going on about something he didn't in the slightest care about. But he was also an iron-willed person with strong opinions on lots of issues, and when he wasn't able to communicate what he thought about these things, then he got very frustrated and annoyed. It was one of the only things that annoyed him about not being able to speak. Also the fact that _a lot _of people overlooked him. It was a common thought that just because he didn't speak, he wasn't intelligent and couldn't feel things. In fact, he was very intelligent - smarter than Green - and he could write well, he just hardly got a chance to show this.

He stopped outside the door of the Pokecentre and took a few deep breaths to compose himself. He couldn't storm in angrily, that would cause too much of a fuss and he'd receive a lot of unwanted attention. He was still annoyed, but he kept it off his face so no one would notice. He went inside and was taken aback by just how many people were inside. It wasn't a very large centre (probably smaller than it should have been) and there were crowds of people everywhere. He stood by the counter and wrote down on the back of a pamphlet that was on a shelf mounted on the wall that he wanted to hire a room for the night.

"I'm sorry," The nurse frowned. "We're completely booked for the night," She didn't offer him any other options and just turned back to whatever she was doing before he came up to her. Dumbstruck, he sat down on the floor against the wall, all the seats were taken. He let her words run through his mind a few times before he was able to make any sense of them. When he did, a desperation washed over him and he couldn't help but punch the wall a few times. It was so busy that no one really noticed him anyway.

Pikachu nudged his leg in concern and he looked down at the pokemon through watery eyes. He didn't know what to do, he had no where to stay (and like hell he was going to camp out in the grass again if there were buildings around). All his frustrations from the day were coming out now. Green being obnoxious, the captain of the S.S Anne, that police officer and now this. Nothing was _fair!_ He rubbed Pikachu's head to comfort not only it, but also himself. Even if they were pokemon, he didn't feel quite so alone with them. They were his companionship. He sniffed and wiped the tears away. He mentally told himself he was being stupid and there was no need to cry, it's not like he was dying or anything. Red was exhausted though, and this was probably the cause of his reaction towards the situation. If it was the middle of the day, he'd be thinking straight and he would find a way to fix the problem. But not now, now he just wanted to cry and fall asleep.

Pikachu was looking at him in concern now, and he smiled at it to try and put it at ease. It appeared to see through him though, but instead just curled up next to him and rested its head on his knee. He petted its head and looked around the centre. It had started to clear out now and all the people that were lucky enough to have rooms had gone up to them. The only people left in the foyer seemed to be the ones that _didn't _have somewhere to stay like him. He glanced around at them, they were all trainers like him and most of them had their pokemon out. They didn't look homeless, just _roomless. _He caught eye contact with a girl that had long black hair and then looked away quickly, not wanting to be talked to. But it was too late, she smiled at him and then got up from her seat.

"Hey," She took a seat next to him. "You look a little lost," He nodded but she seemed a little put off because he wasn't talking back. "You know, they don't care if you sleep in the foyer, a lot of people do it because they often run out of rooms," She explained. She was staring, waiting for an answer and when she didn't receive one her expression turned into a pout and she stood up abruptly. "I try to help," She exclaimed. "And I get nothing back!" She stomped away from him and left everyone awkwardly trying not to watch.

He didn't let her get to him, people like that weren't worth his time. Weren't worth anyones time. He suddenly felt incredibly exhausted from the day and closed his eyes just to rest. But as it always is, he fell asleep sitting crosslegged on the floor of the Pokecentre.

* * *

Red awoke to the sounds of many people walking past him. He blinked a few times to unblur his eyes and noticed that he was still sitting upright in the Pokecentre. People were looking at him a little strangely and no one seemed to come within a five-foot radius of him. He was a little offended, what was wrong with him? He pondered for a moment, and then realised it was probably because he had been asleep on the floor. Most people tried to avoid homeless people, and he supposed he looked a little desperate.

He stood up and stretched his arms. His back was sore, it probably wasn't the smartest idea to fall asleep sitting up against the hard wall. The centre was cold, and he was cold. He could feel the goosebumps on his arms and he had to clamp his mouth shut to stop his teeth from chattering. He knew there was a bathroom with showers that he could warm up with, but he also knew they were communal. This fact usually detered him and he always found somewhere else to have a shower, but he was freezing.

_'Pikachu, stay by the door,' _He told the little mouse and then pointed to the door. It nodded and he entered the room and began to pull off his shirt.

* * *

He peered at the sign in front of the Vermilion gym. It read _'Lieutenant Surge, the lightning American!'_ Red didn't understand the last word, what was an 'American'? He scooped up Pikachu from the ground and placed it on his shoulder and then pushed the gigantic doors open to reveal the interior of the building. It was expansive, to say the least. There were these strange bin-like objects placed in rows and he could not for the life of him think what they could be used for.

"Hey, Champ in the making!" The receptionist of the gym greeted him. "Surge is a little bit paranoid about security, so he had two little electric switches installed in two of those bins. You have to find and press both if you want to battle him because they open the gates to where he is standing," He explained. "I personally think it's stupid, but he was in the army, so he's a little strange like that,"

Red began to peer over all the bins, feeling a tad silly. The buttons weren't even hidden, they were blatantly obvious and bright red sitting in the middle of the bins. He located both of them and the electric gates in front of Surge clicked open. He stepped forward into the arena which for some reason prompted Surge to laugh loudly and obnoxiously.

"Will you look at that, a pint-sized challenger!" He boomed, still laughing. Red was already irritated and the battle hadn't even begun yet. "You've got big and brassy nerves to take me on, kid," Red widened his eyes and stared up at him intently. "Nothing to say, hey?" He continued. "Well, that's fine, just saves your embarrassment when I defeat you! Come on, Raichu," He motioned to something in the distance, and slowly a creature emerged. It was a Raichu, the evolved form of Pikachu. For some reason that he didn't even know, this devastated Red. He felt inadequate and thought he didn't have much chance in winning. "Electric pokemon are my speciality," He petted Raichu's head. "They saved me during the war, I tell you. They helped me zap my enemies into paralysis, and now, I'll do the same to you in our battle. Let's go,"

Red thought he was funny, the way he got straight to the point. He hadn't met anyone much like that before and he briefly thought it might be a gym leader thing. He remembered back to his battle with Brock, he hadn't been like that. In fact, Brock was willing to make conversation instead of getting straight into the battle. Misty in Cerulean had been nice, a little wary of why he didn't talk to her, but nice nonetheless. No one had been as frank as Surge was.

"Raichu, you're up," He commanded the larger mouse and it stepped into the middle of the arena. It hissed at Pikachu, who was sitting safely on Red's shoulder. It glared back, obviously knowing that no harm could come to it while it was with its trainer.

_'Stop it,' _Red said to the creature, who countered with a hangdog expression. _'And don't give me that look, buddy. Also, you're going to have to sit out this battle for a while, it's an electric gym,' _He pulled a pokeball out his bag and released the Bulbasaur he'd received from some guy in Cerulean City.

"Ready for this?" Surge asked. "Because you can still back out now," Red shook his head in protest and the older man shrugged his shoulders. "Well, okay. Raichu, use Thunderbolt,"

_'Jump out the way of it,' _Red commanded. _'Then try and grab a hold of it with Vine Whip,' _Raichu's body began to light up with electricity, and it projected the shock over to where Bulbasaur was standing. It only barely managed to dodge the attack and its right foot was clipped by the volts. It winced slightly but managed to grab a hold of Raichu with the vines. It appeared to be doing fairly well at first until Surge shouted his next command.

"Use Thunder," It seemed an innocent enough attack, but the electricity coming from the pokemon's body was able to zap Bulbasaur through the vines that were still wrapped around it. The shock sent Bulbasaur flying across the arena and it came skidding to a halt not even two metres away from Red. It looked up at him through half-closed eyes, almost begging him to not make it continue fighting.

_'Come on, you can do it!' _He encouraged. It sighed and attempted to stand up. It was able to get up on its front legs before collapsing to the ground again. _'Don't stop,' _Red urged. _'Seriously, we can't lost this!' _It tried again, but didn't even manage to half stand up this time. He kept encouraging it, but each time its progress got smaller. It appeared that Red hadn't learnt anything from his battle with Brock yet, and he was still pushing his pokemon,

"I think it's done, kid," Surge remarked, frowning at the barely-conscious pokemon. "Good effort, but come back when you've trained a bit more," He laughed obnoxiously, annoying Red. Yeah, he'd lost pretty embarrassingly, but he didn't have to rub it in. That just made him feel worse. He turned around to leave when Surge called back to him. "I've never seen anyone battle like you before though," He commented. "I didn't know pokemon could respond to sign language, it was quite impressive,"

_'Thanks,' _He signed back, once again forgetting that not everyone could understand this, but a large grin plastered on his face anyway. Surge did that loud laugh of his again, but smiled back this time.

"You don't seem half bad at battling either," He said. "You didn't win, but you had better technique that most. Especially this kid that came in before, his name was Green or some other colour. He won, but he wasn't _good_. Anyway, good luck to you, kid," Red nodded, trying to supress his anger. _Green. _Always Green. For their whole lives he'd always been one step ahead of him in everything, and of course now was no exception. Why couldn't he be good at something for once?


	11. Vermilion City 3

I had a review of this saying I didn't put enough detail into the battle scenes. I don't put much detail in because they're so boring to write, haha! Really, they seem to drag on a little. Anyway, I tried a bit harder in these chapters. So enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 11: Attitude**

"It makes me so sad when I think of all the people that don't accept others that are different," Red's mother said, frowning. "Because I know what it's like. Red has been yelled at numerous times in public for not responding when someone has talked to him, and each time I've wanted to cry. They just don't understand,"

* * *

Red sat on the sand on the shoreline digging his feet into it. He'd finished his battle with Surge about two hours ago and was now at a loss on how to train his pokemon to be able to defeat him. He'd been to the Pokecentre and had called his mother just to tell her how he was going. She'd seemed very happy to hear from him for some reason, and after the call had finished, he'd made a mental note to call her more often. Every four or so months was a little too long.

But now he just had no idea how to begin. He'd found training Pikachu rather stressful, and that hadn't even taken very long, and now it was training a Charmander than had even more of an attitude than the little mouse did. He'd battled with it before, but when he reviewed those battles later he'd realised that the Charmander was doing its own thing rather than listening to his commands even though he'd already tried to train it. He had to cut it some slack though, it had been abandoned basically.

He sighed silently and gestured to Pikachu. _'You can understand me, buddy, so when I try and teach Charmander, could you please tell it what I'm saying? I have a feeling it doesn't understand sign language too well,' _He had been annoyed by Pikachu when he had first received it, thinking that he had been given the second choice pokemon, the one that nobody really would have wanted. But as they had began to travel, they had built up a mutual trust and friendship. Red never felt alone when he had Pikachu, it was his best friend and listened to what he had to say. It _understood _him in a way that no other thing ever had, and he liked that, for once he had a proper friend. And it could understand sign language perfectly (he had taught it to it, and it had been rather keen to learn for some reason), so that was a plus.

He unzipped his bag and pulled out his pokeballs, only releasing Charmander though. As it appeared in front of him, it gave him a look of contempt and then stared out to sea. Red frowned, this wasn't off to a good start already. He clicked his fingers in front of its face to grab its attention. _'Use Scratch on the sand,' _It stared back at him, not sure what to make of the gestures. Eventually it just blew some steam from its mouth and sat down back into the sand. _'Pikachu,' _The mouse nodded and muttered something in their language to Charmander who shook its head. _'Oh, come on,' _He was frustrated already. _'Is it so much hassle just to use Scratch? You'll be a better fighter, and that's what you want, right?'_

Red knew that it probably had no clue what he was saying, so instead of continuing his rant, he decided just to repeat the gesture for Scratch. He tensed his hand and clawed the air. Every time he did so, Pikachu would mumble something to Charmander, and every time Charmander would refuse and just stare out to sea. Why did it have such an attitude? He was nice to it, trying to praise it in a way it would understand and never abused it in any way. So why did it frown whenever it looked at him?

He sat back, needing a break. If he kept going he'd just become annoyed and try and push it, which probably wouldn't end well for him or Charmander. A prime example of pushing it was the scar on Pikachu's cheek. He still shuddered with guilt whenever he saw it. He was still for a moment, breathing deeply to put himself in the right mindset for training. After he'd made himself feel better, he reached into his bag and pulled out Bulbasaur's pokeball.

He had been noticing Charmander's behaviour towards Pikachu. It would look at the little mouse almost in admiration, not in contempt like it usually was towards everything else. He thought this was a little strange, as the two had never really spent a lot of time with each other. Bulbasaur had walked up and sat with the other two watching the ocean. Pikachu had smiled when it had taken a seat, yet Charmander glared at it. Was it that it didn't like Bulbasaur? Because it had never done anything wrong...

Red shrugged his shoulders and decided to just get on with it, there was no use in letting time go to waste when he needed all the training he could get. He had chosen to come down to the beach not only because he really liked it, but because it was always teeming with pokemon to train with. The ocean was full of Tentacool, and they always made good fodder for battling against. There were always Krabby on the shore too, in fact, one was approaching them now.

_'Charmander, use Scratch,' _He commanded. Charmander glanced over to the Krabby and then up at Red. Its expression wasn't so defiant now and it seemed to have a certain spark in its eyes. It opened its claws and ran towards the Krabby, scratching it against the shell. _'Now use Ember,' _Before Charmander got a chance to, a stream of water projected out of the Krabby's mouth and hit it in the chest. It staggered backwards, slightly weakend, but used Ember anyway. The Krabby, now unable to battle, scuttled off into the distance. When Charmander turned back towards Red, its face full of contempt again. What was with this stupid pokemon? It was so frustrating for Red.

He replayed the battle over in his head, Charmander had behaved so differently. What had changed? It had battled some other trainers before and had always just held that arrogance. He stared over at the pokemon, when it wasn't looking at him, it appeared to have a standard expression of a frown. This was normal though, he assured himself, all pokemon had different personalities, but there was something not quite right. He looked even harder, trying to spot the difference.

It was his eyes, Red deduced. They looked sad, as if it was longing for someone. Realisation dawned on him at this point, it was probably missing its old trainer. He hadn't given that much thought, but this poor pokemon had been torn away from the person it looked up to. That would hurt anyone, pokemon or person. He smiled, but it was melancholy. He had to be kinder and more appreciative to the creature, otherwise it would never like or trust him. He felt silly for not realising it before.

* * *

Red had attempted to train Charmander some more, but had given up after about three battles. It _did _miss its old trainer, but it also had an attitude that would have been there before it was abandoned. He'd found out it would only battle opponents who it thought were either worthy or a decent challenge, otherwise it would do nothing. This had made Red smirk a little as he remembered Charmander sitting on the ground and doing nothing while it was fighting Green's Raticate. Obviously it thought that it was pretty worthless. Besides that little bit of satisfaction, Charmander's attitude was annoying and unpredictable.

So Red had been focusing on training Bulbasaur. Charmander apparently thought that Bulbasaur wasn't very strong by the way it responded to the poor creature. Hopefully they'd learn to get along as his travels progressed. Bulbasaur was completely different to Charmander, it had a nice personality and was willing to battle anything and train until it almost collapsed. And that's what they'd been doing all afternoon, Red felt like they had made real progress.

_'Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf,' _This would be the final attack on the Tentacool that was floating just five metres away from the shoreline. A flurry of leaves went flying from Bulbasaur and they knocked the pokemon in the water right out. It fell onto its back and floated. He knew it would be okay in a few hours and didn't feel so bad for making it faint. _'Good job!' _He commended, petting Bulbasaur's head. It turned towards him and smiled. _'It's getting a little late, we should go to th-' _He was cut off because a strange white light had begun to glow in the bulb on Bulbasaur's back. What was happening? It couldn't be sick.

Red was freaking out, he didn't know what was going on. He'd never seen any pokemon do this before. The white light spread so it was covering all of Bulbasaur and only its eyes remained visible. Red could feel his hands shaking, it might be dying! He fell down onto his knees (as they felt like they were about to buckle) and grabbed onto the sand for support. Slowly the white light began to dim and disappear from certain parts of Bulbasur, much to Red's relief.

Bulbasaur appeared bigger, and as the light disappeared completely, so did Red's sense of dread. It wasn't sick or dying, it was just evolving! A large grin spread across his face, it was now an Ivysaur! He'd never witnessed a pokemon evolve before, and he felt like he had seen something rare, something significant.

* * *

"Back again, kid?" Surge laughed as Red walked into the arena. "I knew you'd return, you want the badge," Red nodded. "Well, let's get to it then," Once again, he released Raichu.

_'Charmander,' _He pulled out a pokeball and released Charmander into the arena. This was a risky move, Charmander might not battle. But Raichu was strong, and Red was hoping Charmander would notice this about the creature and want to fight. It could be powerful when it wanted to be. It appeared in the arena and straight away seemed to sneer at Raichu. Okay, this was off to a good start.

"Raichu, start with a charge towards it and then a Thunderbolt,"

_'Stand your ground,' _Red instructed. _'As it is coming towards you, run forward and use Scratch against it,' _The good thing about sign language whilst battling was that your opponent had no idea what you were going to do. Red figured that was why he won so many, not because he was any good.

Raichu began to sprint towards it, and Charmander waited until it was about two metres in front of it to launch forward. Man, Raichu was fast. Red had totally underestimated that. But Charmander had a will to win, it was incredibly stubborn, so it would try its hardest. It let out its claws and brought them down hard against Raichu's face. The rat winced in pain, recoiling slightly.

"Thunderbolt anyway!" Surge commanded and it began to glow.

_'Try and dodge!'_

* * *

Raichu walked slowly backwards towards Surge, almost unable to lift itself. "Raichu is unable to battle," He announced. "I suppose you win, kid," Red's jaw dropped open, he hadn't been expecting this at all! He had not had much faith in himself when he had started this battle, but Charmander's strength when it was up against a worthy opponent was incredible. He hoped that this win wouldn't go to its head though, that would make it even harder to deal with. But right now, he was very proud of himself and Charmander.

_'Well done,' _He smiled at it, figuring that praise might be a good way to win its trust. He had been working on being kinder towards it, he wanted it as comfortable as possible in his party as the others were. It nodded in response, clearly happy with itself.

"Here's the Thunder badge," Surge held out a little pendant for Red to take. He picked it up and felt it in the palm of his hand. It was cold, but smooth. Even though this was his third badge, the novelty of receiving them hadn't worn off. Each time he was awarded one he felt even prouder that he'd made it this far. Even though he wanted to be the best trainer in Kanto (or the world) more than anything else, he'd never really believed that he could do it. He'd envisioned himself arriving in Viridian City, but his imagination could never extend it further than that. It was as if his subconscious was telling him he was never going to get there because he faced so much adversity with trying to train his pokemon in sign language and small minded people that thought it was appropriate to be rude because he wasn't exactly 'normal' (this was not foreign to him). So making it as far as Vermilion City and winning three gym badges was a real achievement and he was awfully proud of himself.

He smiled when he thought about it. He could become the first mute champion. That would show everyone whoever doubted him that he could do it! He wouldn't rub it in their faces exactly, that wasn't nice, but he would prove them wrong at least.

"You really deserve it, kid," Surge said. Red nodded in acknowldgement and recalled Charmander into its ball. "I'll see you around maybe," He glanced at his surroundings once more, taking in everything before he left. As he did, his eyes settled on Raichu. It didn't look aggressive anymore, in fact, it looked frightened and sad. He couldn't figure out why, perhaps it wasn't used to losing. Or maybe Surge didn't like it when it didn't win. Maybe Surge didn't treat it as kindly as Red had first thought he did...

This thought saddened him and he had to get out of there as quickly as possible. Violence towards pokemon really upset him, which was why he despised Team Rocket so much. He pulled his bag onto his bag and shuffled out the door, trying not to look like he wanted to be rid of the place. Once out of the doors, he felt a great relief come over him. He was outside where everything was nice, and the ocean was right there. He closed his eyes and let the familiar sound of waves comfort him.


	12. Route 6 and 5 and 9

Horrible filler chapter, go go go!

* * *

**Chapter 12: Scenarios**

"I don't want to talk," Green interpreted for Red. "I don't want to have to communicate like that, it just causes problems. I've seen it happen,"

* * *

Red had been pretty peeved when he'd realised that there was no way to get to the next gym other than going back up to Cerulean (and on the way there he'd have to go through the underground path again), then through this massive cave affectionately called the Rock Tunnel by local hikers and then through Lavender Town. Once he got to Lavender Town, he'd have to go through another underground path that would eventually lead him to Celadon City. He'd worked out in his head that the journey would probably take him around three days, and that would be if he walked non-stop and only took a break when he wanted to sleep. So with stopping, it'd probably be about four days.

He wouldn't have been so annoyed if the journey was unavoidable, but there were a few faster ways to get to where he wanted. Number one was the gatekeepers. If they weren't being so stubborn and refusing to let anyone in or out of Saffron and Celadon, then he'd probably be able to challenge those gyms in the next day or two. It annoyed him greatly that they could get away with inconveniencing so many people. He knew he wasn't the only one frustrated as he'd overheard some people complaining about at a cafe he was at the other day. The second reason was that there was a giant pokemon sleeping in front of the entrance to the route that would lead to Lavender Town. He'd read somewhere that it was called Snorlax, but he wasn't entirely sure. A lot of townsfolk from Vermilion had tried to wake it up, but nothing had worked.

* * *

_Day One_

So now he was stuck taking a massive detour to get somewhere that essentially shouldn't take him anytime at all. He'd stocked up on items from the mart in Vermilion before heading north towards Cerulean. As he'd began to walk through the grass, he'd realised it wasn't _that _bad. It was very lovely to look at, and he could train his pokemon along the way. He'd recently acquired a Squirtle and it was in dire need of some proper battling and training.

_"You beat Lieutenant Surge?" The officer Red had met only a few days ago had rushed up to him as he'd exited the gym and walked back into the town. "Good job! He's a really tough guy, not many people manage to win against him, so you must be pretty good," Red shrugged his shoulders, still wary of Jenny. He didn't think she meant to offend him, but was just tactless. "So, I uh, have this for you," She handed him a pokeball. "It's got a Squirtle inside, the one I was telling you about the other day. You seem able enough to try and train it,"_

_He was undecided on how he felt about receiving Squirtle. It was good because he had been given a free pokemon and now he own all of the starters Professor Oak gave out to new trainers, but it was bad because it liked to cause trouble, and he already had enough problems trying to train Charmander. He decided not to worry about it until he properly tried to battle later on and just go with it for now._

_"You know, I never thought you were a trainer," Jenny remarked absentmindedly. "I assumed it would be too hard for you, not talking and all,"_

_Yes, she was tactless. Red huffed silently and crossed his arms over his chest. _'I'm going,' _He signed, knowing full well that she didn't understand sign language. He turned away and walked off angrily. Once he was out of her eyesight, he broke into silent laughter. It was laughter because he wanted to forget about everything frustrating that had happened over the past while, fake laughter. But he told himself it was because she'd never know what he said to her._

He had continued walking even though it had become dark. He wanted to get as far as possible because he was pretty deadset on getting to Celadon City in as little time as possible to challenge the gym leader. He felt like he was on somewhat of a roll after winning those three badges. It got to about nine and he found himself in front of the underground path. If Red had been a rational, logical person, he would have stopped here for the night and braved the path in the morning when it was _light_, but he was neither of those things and decided to push on, seemingly forgetting the fear he'd had last time.

He took two steps into the dank tunnel and immediately freaked out. The familiar stained walls and puddles of water in _the middle of the path _(where did they come from?) were too much and scared him out of his wits. There was bound to be someone waiting around the corner waiting to jump him. He broke into a frantic sprint and bolted down the path, Pikachu trailing behind.

Once he'd gotten out, he made a dive for the grass next to the building. He pulled his shaking knees up to his chest and hugged them tight for safety because no one could hurt him when he was curled up into a ball. He closed his eyes and rocked backwards and forwards, trying to calm himself down. He needed someone to put their arm around him and tell him it was okay, because even though he'd been travelling by himself for months now, he did get lonely sometimes. Sometime during that next hour, he'd managed to rock himself to sleep.

* * *

_Day Two_

Red awoke in confusion, wondering why he was asleep on the grass. He briefly remembered the underground path, but pushed the memory away, not wanting to frighten himself any further. He stood up and brushed the grass off his clothes. He could probably get to Cerulean by the end of the day, but it was a constant uphill climb there. He pulled his bag onto his back and started off down the path when he felt his stomach rumble, so he made a note to find somewhere to eat quickly, otherwise he'd be really grumpy in a few hours.

He was walking off the road, as the traffic between the cities was too dangerous to walk next to. He preferred walking through the trees anyway, the blocked out most of the sound from the highway and it felt like he was on a real adventure. It was times like this he let his imagination run away because he didn't have to be a mature fouteen year old, he could just be a child again. He pretended he was a researcher, studying different types of pokemon throughout the region. This character made his home amongst the trees, sleeping in their branches, rather than living in a real house.

His game was interrupted when someone called out to him, asking for a battle. He nodded and sent out Pikachu.

"Hey, I know you!" Red tilted his head to the side in confusion, he couldn't recall ever meeting this boy. "Well, I don't know you personally, but I've heard about you. You're the really strong trainer that doesn't speak, right?" Red nodded, a little embarrassed. Who had been talking about him? "A friend of mine battled you, he said it was really cool how you used sign language," A smile spread across Red's face, he felt a strange sense of pride. He was starting to build a reputation.

* * *

_Day Three_

Red had managed to get to Cerulean on day two, but at around ten at night. He'd pushed himself all day with constant walking and battling, so when he got to the city he felt sick with exhaustion. He'd found out that all of the rooms were once again booked at the Pokecentre, so he lay down in the foyer and used his bag as a pillow.

He did not feel at all refreshed from that sleep the next day, as he had been tossing and turning all night and was awfully cold from having no blanket. But on he went, heading east towards the Rock Tunnel. He hoped to reach their at least by the late afternoon so he would have some chance of booking at room at the Pokecentre outside the entrance to the cave. He'd been walking for about an hour and felt ready to collapse, he was _so _tired. He leant against one of the trees that lined the route and rubbed his eyes. He couldn't take a break, he needed to keep walking because that would get him to the gym and ultimately one step closer to the Pokemon League. You had to admit, his will was strong.

When he saw the Rock Tunnel and Pokecentre come into sight, he broke into a full on sprint down the hill towards it. The wind through his hair felt great, but he was finding it harder to run the longer he did. By the time he barged in through the doors, he was completely out of breath and could hardly walk any further. He stopped and tried to breathe deeply, but when he inhaled, he felt a great stabbing pain in his abdomen. It was so strong that he forgot about being winded and bolted into the bathrooms. There was no one in there thankfully, and he leant over the basin, feeling incredibly sick and lightheaded.


	13. Rock Tunnel

I'm really sorry about the last two slapdash chapters! The next one will be much more exciting, I promise! I've been looking forward to writing it since the Cerulean City chapter! (I've had it written in my book since then!)

Also, poor Red. He gets injured so much. I should write something other than injuries.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Selfdestruct**

"When Red beat me on the S.S Anne I wasn't disappointed. I probably would have been if my Raticate hadn't been so badly hurt. That's all I could think about, it just looked so helpless lying there on the ground. I felt horrible for it. This feeling was new to me, I'd never really felt bad about anything before. I don't think I was really a human until then," Green laughed bitterly. "I was really nervous the whole trip back to Vermilion,"

* * *

Red hadn't been feeling too well after that sprint down to the Pokecentre, so after he'd rushed into the bathroom, he hired out a room and had curled up and fallen asleep instantly. He didn't know how long he slept for, but when he woke up, the sun was high in the sky and he could feel the heat radiating from it into his room. It was well and truly summer, and it was _hot_. He glanced at the clock on the bedside table, it said 3:17. Oh wow, he'd been asleep for almost twenty-four hours, he must have been exhausted after all. Then again, it was to be expected, he hadn't slept in a proper bed for at least four nights now.

Warily, he propped himself onto his elbows, worried about being sick again. He waited for a few minutes for that familiar stabbing pain, but when it didn't come, and sat up properly and stretched his arms. For the first time in a little while, he didn't feel tired, which was nice. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and reached his his shirt which was sitting on the ground. He pulled it on and ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up in all different directions.

Pikachu was still asleep by the foot of the bed, so silently Red grabbed his bag from the bedside table and made his way out to the showers.

* * *

He stood outside the Rock Tunnel, taking in enormity of it. Yes, it was _huge _and he was daunted by the task of trying to find his way through it, it was a little bit underwhelming. It wasn't as large at Mount Moon was, and not nearly as long, so he felt like he could get through it in a couple of hours. It would be getting dark by seven, and it was four now, and he guessed he could probably get through it by six. He adjusted his hat before taking a step inside.

Just like Mount Moon, as soon as he got inside the cave, the temperature dropped by about five degrees. A shiver went through his body and he pulled his vest tightly around his chest for warmth. Why he didn't have a jacket was beyond him, he just hadn't thought to bring one when he had left home. He told himself he'd buy one when he got to Celadon City.

Red liked to think of himself as a brave person, but he also forgot his fear whenever he was away from whatever it was that was scaring him. He had not remembered how eerie caves were and how his heart beat a little more quickly than usualy when he was inside of one. Of course he'd remembered this five metres into the cave, but instead of turning around and cowering, he curled his fists up and continued walking. He didn't want to be caught in here when it got dark, after all. He peered down at Pikachu, making sure that the little creature was still with him. He wouldn't be able to do this if he was completely alone.

While he could see the entrance, it was fine and he was able to see where he was going. But when he turned the corner, there was suddenly no light. He froze in place, surprised by the sudden darkness. He knew he didn't have a torch or some sort of light on him, yet he felt in his pockets and his bag for one anyway and was disappointed when he came up empty. He reached to the side of him and felt for the wall, if he was able to shimmy along using that as a guide, then he could probably navigate his way. He focused on trying to get somewhere, blocking out the fear that was slowly creeping into his mind. He was in a cave in the dark, alone.

He'd managed to walk for about twenty minutes and not bang into anything yet, when he walked straight into someone. He rubbed his forehead where it was hurting from the bump. There was a loud, booming laugh and it made Red do a double take.

"Sorry about that, kid!" Whoever it was announced. "I can't see anything in this darkness. I always come here to hike, but I never think to bring a torch. That's a bit stupid of me," He couldn't tell who it was, but they sounded like an adult, and a gruff one at that. "We should have a battle, I wonder what it will be like when we can't see anything,"

If there had been light, you would have been able to see Red's face pale. This was a dangerous idea, a really dangerous idea. He wouldn't be able to command his pokemon, so they'd probably just get attacked. Or himself, he wouldn't be able to see the attack and probably get hurt. This was one of the only times Red wanted to be able to _speak up_, so he could tell the man that this was a terrible idea and that they could both be seriously injured. But no, he couldn't. He just had to stand there, frustrated and wait for the inevitable.

"Geodude," There was a whooshing sort of noise and Red assumed the hiker's pokemon had just been released. "Use Rock Blast," The atmosphere was so tense, he could hardly bear it. He _was so _frightened of what could happen. It was silent until Pikachu cried out in pain. Instinctively, Red bent down and hunched over Pikachu, protecting it. He couldn't let the little mouse get hurt, his conscience wouldn't let him. He'd felt guilty enough when it had gotten hurt fighting Brock, so if he could defend it this time, he most certainly would. It was his best friend...

He felt a hard smack against his back, and then another. He winced in pain, but held onto Pikachu even tighter. He'd rather himself get hurt than if it did. The hiker growled, seemingly annoyed that no damage was being done to the pokemon.

"Selfdestruct!"

Red cursed in his head, that was a dangerous attack, moreso than anything else a Geodude would know. He scooped Pikachu up in his arms and stood up, preparing to make a run for it. He took a step and a half, when he heard a loud 'boom' noise and felt a massive force his him square between the shoulders. His back felt like it was burning, it hurt so much! He fell over, unable to stand up anymore due to the pressure of the pain. As he hit the ground, the palms of his hands scraped along the gravel. His head was clouded from the pain, that he didn't really noticed when he passed out.

* * *

Red wasn't feeling so crash hot when he woke back up and found very little motivation to getting up and continuing to walk through the Rock Tunnel. But it was dark and creepy and he wanted to get out of there as fast as possible. It was strange, when he woke back up he couldn't see anything due to the cave being dark, so when he first opened his eyes, he had a mini freak-out about why he was 'blind'. Pikachu was nuzzling his leg in concern and he petted its head reassuringly.

He pushed himself into standing and felt for the wall again. Once he found it, he shimmied along and managed to eventually get to the end of it without running into anyone else. The path was rather straight forward, but everything was just pitch black. When he saw the opening of the tunnel, he broke into a run again. He was so sick of not being able to see anything, and light was a welcome break. He was almost there...

He burst through the opening and revelled in the fresh air. It was so nice to be out in the open again, he hadn't realised how much he enjoyed it. But his joy was cut short when the realisation of it being around midnight set in. Oh, and the scrapes on his palms, they were a little nasty and painful. He'd been so happy about being out of such a close in area, that he hadn't realised that it wasn't exactly that light out here either. The street lamps of the city provided some light, but not much from where he was standing. He figured that the closer he went to the city, the brighter it would get.

Slowly, he began to move towards the town. Lavender Town, it was, and probably not the best place to be hanging around in the middle of the night. From his spot on the hill, he could see a giant tower looming over the town. He assumed this was the Pokemon Tower, which he'd heard was a graveyard. He'd also heard many stories about this place, things like spirits and ghosts coming out in the middle of the night, and people hearing eerie music coming from the big tower. He didn't believe in any of that supernatural stuff, but couldn't help but feel a little on edge about the place.

His pace quickened as if someone was following him, even though he knew full well there wasn't. He was headed for the Pokecentre. There would be no rooms available at this time of night, but he didn't care. He just wanted to be inside.


	14. Pokemon Tower

This is gonna sound so lame, but I've been so excited about this chapter for ages now! It's the first interesting thing that has happened in a long while. Seriously, the Vermilion City chapters were so dreary while I was writing them because I just couldn't wait for this one. Aw, now I'm sad it's over.

Gahhh, I made a massive mistake! When I first uploaded this, I had called Green Blue twice because I had him as Blue in my book. But now it's okay! I've fixed it :D

* * *

**Chapter 14: Green**

"This was definitely something that brought me back down to earth. It made me realise that I should be nice and not annoying whenever something didn't go my way, because things can just be gone from your life suddenly, and there's nothing you can do about it except look back and wonder," Green said.

* * *

Green placed his knee on the ground, and then the other so he was sitting on his knees. He ran his hand along the newly-laid soil that was covering the patch of ground in front of him. They'd done a magnificent job, him and Mister Fuji, and he was awfully proud of how it looked. If there was one thing good about this situation, it was that at least he had one of the better looking graves and that Raticate would go into the next life peacefully because of this. He was so vain, but he couldn't help it. Even in such melancholy situations, he cared for appearances.

Not his own, funnily enough. Right now he didn't give a toss that his face was smudged with dirt and streaked by tears, and that his hair was sticking up in all different directions from him running his hand through it so often. That was something Green did when he was nervous or unhappy, it was just a habit he had had since he couldn't remember when. The intention was to calm his hair down, but it always just resulted in it sticking up even further.

He squeezed his eyes shut to try and stop the tears from spilling out again, he'd felt a sudden wave of sadness wash over him as he had several other times today. "Raticate, I'm so sorry," He mumbled, placing his hand on the headstone. At first he had been angry at Red for injuring the poor creature so harshly. He had cursed him over and over while he was sitting in the Pokecentre, watching it as it was hooked up to all different life-support machines. But when it had finally passed on, he stopped blaming his friend. He hadn't meant for Pikachu to be so strong, they'd just been battling after all. No, it was his own fault. He knew he was pushing it a little hard for what it was capable of, but he did it anyway.

* * *

_Green extended his quivering hand towards Raticate, placing it on its paw and stroking its fur. It looked so fragile, so breakable just lying there, struggling to breathe. He wished that he could do something to help it, but of course he couldn't. The nurses had done everything they could to try and help it survive, but this was the only thing that was working. At first they'd told him it would start to improve within the week, and should be just a little unwell by the end of it, but it had been four days and it hadn't shown any signs of improving. In fact, its condition was deteriorating. At first it had been tossing and turning slightly in the bed, but now it was completely still, and the beep of the heart monitor had been slowing down quite noticeably._

_He was so worried, what if Raticate were to not make it? It was one of the first pokemon he caught, so it had been with him for the majority of his journey. It was a friend, one of his best friends even. If he were to lose it, he would be devastated. It wasn't fair! Why did this have to happen to him? It was Red's fault, if he hadn't used his stupid Pikachu then this whole thing would have been avoided. But no, of course it happened, because Red never thought of anyone but himself!_

_"Fuck you, Red," He cursed under his breath. "Fuck you, Red!" This time it was louder, and it felt good to get it out of his system. He attracted a few glares from people around him, but he didn't care. He needed to be angry._

_"What did Red do to deserve you cursing him so loudly?" He looked up to find a face staring at him from across the other side of the bed. It was a girl around his age, and she didn't look angry at him from swearing, thankfully._

_"You know Red?" He asked, a little bit irritated that his rant had been interrupted._

_"No, but there must be a reason you're so angry at him,"_

_"Yes!" Finally, someone would listen to him. "He made my Raticate like this, he's just about killed it!"_

_She frowned. "How?"_

_"We were having a battle," His fingers on his empty hand begun tapping frustratedly on the bed and his leg was jiggling up and down, something that always happened when he was mad. He could never sit still, no matter what the situation was and especially when he was angry. But it just wasn't fair, nothing ever went his way! "And he has this Pikachu, and for some reason it had a really strong Thunderbolt and it knocked Raticate out cold! He probably did it purposely just to annoy me!"_

_"I don't think he did," She replied._

_"What do you know?" He hissed, his tapping on the bed was becoming urgent. How dare this girl come and preach to him about what was right and wrong? His pokemon was sick and she was telling him off, the nerve! He looked back up and her, and she just shrugged, clearly unaffected by his words. What was with her?_

_There was a beep on the machine next to Raticate, and then a few more in quick succession. Green's heart lifted, was there finally some progress? But these beeps were followed by one long one, and when he looked at the heart monitor, he saw that the screen was empty. He let go of Raticate's paw and slowly placed his hands in his lap. He tried to blink back the tears, but they were persistent and rolled down his cheeks over and over. He sniffed and wiped them away, but it didn't really help._

_There was a warm weight on his shoulders, and he looked up and found the girl had come around and placed her arm around him. "He didn't mean it," She mumbled, looking at Raticate and frowning. He nodded and placed his arm around her waist._

* * *

He heard footsteps behind him, and nervously stood up, not wanting to be seen so emotionally torn (again), that just wasn't who he was. He wiped his eyes and cheeks and straightened out his shirt. He turned around when he heard the footsteps stop. "Oh, hey, Red," He tried to grin, not wanting to burst into tears again. He _couldn't _do social right now.

_'Are you alright?'_

"I'm fine," He replied, unsure of the steadiness of his voice. He couldn't let Red know he'd been crying just a few minutes earlier, that'd just be embarrassing, and losing face in front of him was something he wasn't prepared to do. "Red, have you ever had any of your pokemon die?" It was a stupid question, of course he wouldn't have had that. But...if there was something Red could do well, it was listen, and that's what Green needed most right now.

Instead of answering straight away, Red just looked up at him with utmost sincerity, his eyes wide. It was a little unnerving and made Green wonder what he was thinking about. "No,"

Green's jaw dropped open in surprise and all his sadness and thoughts about Raticate disappeared for the time being. Did Red just speak? Like, actually say something? It must have been a really harsh topic for him emotionally if he was moved enough to answer with real speaking. Oh, wow. And he had a voice, he was actually _able _to speak. Green knew that Red didn't have any reasons why he didn't talk, but he still found it hard sometimes to believe that he could actually speak if he wanted to.

His voice was interesting. It was quite, yet hoarse. Probably monotone from never being used, but he couldn't really tell with just one word. It was as if it was in there, just waiting to come out. It made him think a little, this was something that was such little effort for most people, yet for Red it was a big deal. Okay, he'd better answer now, he was looking at Green expectantly.

"Well, I was just here looking for a Cubone," He laughed nervously. "But I er...couldn't find any,"

_'That's a shame. I heard some people in town saying that one's mother passed away here recently,'_

"Yeah," He ran his fingers through his hair. Was he going to speak again? Did he even speak or did he just imagine it? "I uh...have to go. Smell you, um, later!"

Red watched him turn around and sprint down the stairs. He touched his throat - did he really just say something? It felt warm and strange and was beginning to hurt from never being used. Deciding that it didn't really matter what just happened, he surveyed the room and found his position was right in front of a headstone. He stared at it, feeling a odd sadness wash over him for the poor trainer who had lost it. Red wasn't very keen on people, he found them a little frustrating and preferred to be by himself or just with pokemon, but he could sympathise well. He squinted at the engraving on the grave to read what it said.

_Raticate_

_Trainer: Green Oak_

Oh shit. The question Green had asked had actually been him trying to reach out for help, sympathy or anything, and he hadn't responded with anything like that. Green must have thought he was a horribly selfish person. Actually, it was Green's fault for not really telling him what had happened anyway. But his pokemon had just died, and that was _awful_. Red couldn't even begin to imagine the sort of grief he'd feel if Pikachu were to pass away, so he felt sad for Green. He'd have to be kinder to him next time they ran into one another.

He glanced at the headstone again and decided that he should at least try to help, he was probably in mourning after all, and he didn't want to appear like a jerk. He ran down the steps, taking two at a time and made his way quickly out the tower. He attracted a few stares from disrupted mourners, but he didn't care. He was solely focused on finding Green and making it up to him.

He stepped into the street and froze. There was no chance of finding him now, all the alleyways and streets were packed with people, there'd be no way he'd be able to spot him. He wondered why everyone was out, about twenty minutes ago there had been no one. There must be something happening, he didn't know the streets could get so crowded. He peered down the road, looking for that familiar mop of brown hair, but couldn't see anything. Disheartened, he turned around and walked back into the tower.


	15. Route 8

**Chapter 15: Tunnel**

"I would wonder and worry about Red everyday," His mother said, staring down into her lap. "Just about how he was getting on. I'd heard from him once in four months, and I really missed him. Any parent would worry about their child off on their own in the big, dangerous world, but _my _child couldn't speak, so he was in even more danger. But I'm really happy about how things turned out,"

* * *

Red did not believe in the supernatural. Not at all, definitely not, no sirree. So that was definitely not a ghost in front of him, not letting him up the stairs. No, not a ghost, just a translucent pokemon or something of some kind that was making eerie noises, but of course it wasn't a ghost. He tried to walk forward to the stairs again, but was once more pushed backwards to where he was originally standing. What did this thing have against him anyway? He'd never been disrespectful to any graves or anything.

_'Use Ember,'_ He said feebly, wondering it Charmander could still understand even though his hands were shaking like mad. Instead it just stared up at whatever was in their way, too frightened to move. It slowly turned towars Red and then bolted behind his legs to hide. Sure, if it was in danger then Red was its 'best friend', but not in any other situation. Anyway, this freaked Red the hell out and he quickly recalled Charmander and dashed _down _the stairs and out the building. He didn't stop until he was on the western outskirts of town.

After calming down (and no, he still didn't believe in ghosts), he was on his way to Saffron City. Well, he would be on his way to Saffron City if the Gatekeepers weren't being so immature, so he was actually on the road to Celadon City.

He was still feeling a little shocked about Raticate, he couldn't believe that it had actually happened, that _his _attack on the poor creature had killed it. He wasn't blaming himself, but he couldn't help but feel a little bit bad about inflicting such damage. He sighed silently and kept walking, getting further and further away from the town that was making him feel so bad. He'd been continuously walking for around two hours, when he felt his stomach rumble. In the day's events, he'd forgotten all about lunch and it was almost six now. He knew there was a place to eat along this route, his mother had told him she visited it once when she was around his age. He hoped that it was still around, as that was around twenty years ago.

He walked a little further, trying to ignore the pangs in his stomach by telling himself it would be around here somewhere. It was starting to get dark and he'd have to find it soon or else he wouldn't be able to see anything. The trees around him didn't help the setting sun either, they blocked out whatever light did remain form it, casting ominous shadows along the ground. When he got bored (and a little bit creeped out), he wouldn't let himself step on the shadows, only on the patches of ground that were still light. He used to do that when he was a child with Green, and he wondered if Green still remembered the game.

It was almost completely dark now, and he still hadn't found this restaurant. He was feeling a little desperate and beginning to think he wouldn't have anything to eat until tomorrow morning when something unusual in the distance caught his eye. He stopped and peered to see what it was. It was a red and blue flashing light, actually there were several of them and they looked like police sirens. What would the police be doing in the countryside of Kanto?

Red liked to know everything that was happening, and his mother had once described him as 'curious', which he didn't like at all, it made him feel like a little kid. As such, he wanted to know what was happening here (he liked danger too, remember?) and sped up his walking, nothing bothering to avoid shadows now. As he neared the police cars, something else came into view. They were parked outside a small building that looked a little like a house. The sign next to it said cafe, and he realised that this was the place that he'd been looking for.

He could hear them talking, there were two officers and then a woman who sounded like she owned the place. He stopped a little distance away to hear what they were saying.

"I saw it happen!" She said. "It was only about an hour ago. These two people, a woman and a man that were dressed in black with giant Rs on their shirts ran in and demanded I give them all the money from the till, and then they stole one of our customer's pokemon! I think it was a Nidorina," She sounded like she was going to burst into tears.

"Did you give them the money?" One of the officers replied. Red didn't hear her answer because she probably answered by nodding or shaking her head. _Curiously_, he walked closer, wanting to hear the rest of the story, but unfortunately his steps caught their attention and they all turned around to face him. "Hey, kid, did you see any of this?" He shook his head, embarrassed that all the attention was now on him. The officer turned back around to the woman, but the other one was looking at him strangely. He frowned, he felt judged. "It sounds like it was Team Rocket. They've been causing a lot of trouble recently. There was a break-in to a house in Cerulean City by a Rocket a month or two ago, that was terrible,"

"I know who you are," The other officer suddenly announced, once again bringing everyone's attention back towards Red. "You're Red, aren't you? The trainer that doesn't talk," He nodded at her, a little confused. He'd never met her before, yet she seemed awfully familiar. "My cousin in Vermilion City said she met you," Oh, well that's why.

"Do you want to all come inside?" The other lady offered. "You too, Red. It's cold out here and I can get you some coffee,"

* * *

That night Red found it difficult to sleep again (and not just because he was outside in the cold), as he kept thinking of Team Rocket. He knew they were a terrible organisation, but he had managed to put them out of his mind for a while as he hadn't heard anything about them in around a month. In fact, he'd thought they'd just disappeared into obscurity, as groups like that often do. But apparently they hadn't and were still running as rampant as ever. He still wasn't entirely sure what it was they actually did, but he knew it couldn't be too nice.

He tossed and turned throughout the whole night, finding himself having terrible dreams about Rockets taking Pikachu, mixed with dreams of visiting Pikachu's grave if it were to pass on. Every hour or so he'd wake up in a cold sweat, his hands shaking. He'd then spend the next twenty minutes trying to calm himself down enough to be able to fall asleep again. Everything was worse in the night, but he knew that he'd be feeling bad regardless of the time. He was feeling especially sad for Green, as he'd experienced in his dreams what Green went through in real life, and he couldn't even handle it as a dream.

Around three (he checked), he finally managed to fall asleep properly and was awoken very rudely the next morning by rain hitting his forehead, and then eventually the rest of his face. He shoved everything into his bag and made a run for it. He didn't know where he was going and could not see any form of shelter in the distance, but he somehow felt that running would prevent the rain actually hitting him. Even though he could feel his clothing getting soaked, he kept up this belief that if he did keep going, he'd be less wet.

It did eventually work in a roundabout sort of way, as he came across a small building. He ducked inside it and slumped against the wall, feeling a little exhausted. Having to sprint when you're not even properly awake yet isn't very nice to do. He watched the rain pour down for a few minutes, wondering what brought it on exactly. It was the middle of summer, and yesterday it had been really warm. Well, last night had cooled down a fair bit, but it was still summer.

Red pulled his hat off and wrung it out onto the ground. He wouldn't be able to wear it for a while now, which was a little frustrating. He was soaked through and the cold material against his skin was making him shiver. He figured the best way to get warm would be to move, and as he searched around the little building he realised that it was the _other _underground path. The one that would take him to Celadon. The realisation of this made him happy, yet also freaked him out a little. Would it be as bad as the other?

Yes, it was as bad as the other. He couldn't run because his clothes were so waterlogged that they were really heavy, so he was forced to walk through it like a normal person. No matter how many times he walked through one of these, it never got any easier and he was still as creeped out about it as the first time.

* * *

**Review please?**


	16. Celadon City

**Before you all yell at me for bringing in an OC, let me explain her! She's the girl outside the Celadon Department Story, the one that says "The Dept. Store is great, it has the widest range blah blah blah, I sound like their sales rep, right?"**

**So yes, technically she _isn't _an OC, heh.**

Also, I haven't written this much talking in foreeeeeeeeever, hopefully it's okay.

* * *

**Chapter 16: Hello**_  
_

_'I didn't expect to make many, or any friends for that matter whilst travelling,' _Red admitted, shrugging his shoulders. _'It just kind of seemed like something you do alone, and well, it was always hard for me to make friends anyway. No matter how good a person I was, none of the other kids wanted to be friends with the 'weird' kid that didn't talk. I don't blame them, they didn't know any better. It still surprises me to this date what actually happened with this whole 'meeting people' thing, and I wouldn't change what happened for the world,'_

* * *

Red had his sight set on the gym, literally. He had spotted it from the front of the pokecentre where he'd been surveying the town and was striding confidently towards it. If one wanted to be successful, then one must at least look confident. Everytime he went into battle he was nervous, it was something he couldn't help. He was worried he was going to lose, or his pokemon were going to get hurt, and as of recently, concerned that they could die. But if he wanted to become the best trainer, then he'd have to risk all that and just go for it. Yes, he did have a few anxieties, but who didn't? Well, probably not Green, that kid could do anything.

But right now, nothing was going to get in the way of him and the gym.

"Hey, watch out!" Well, except that. He always caused trouble. Reluctantly he turned to face whomever he'd bumped his shoulder into and found that it was a girl who was shooting daggers with her eyes at him. He just stared at her, not entirely sure what to do now. "Are you going to answer?" She continued, placing her hands on her hips. "It's kind of rude, you know. It's also even ruder to bump into someone and not apologise,"

He bit his bottom lip down, not really sure how to answer her. He didn't want to get into a fight, he'd had enough conflict for a while now. He always found it _so _awkward when he was put on the spot like this, everyone always got a bad impression of him, deeming him rude and selfish. It was even worse when people asked his name. But fourteen years of this, he'd worked out some strategies on how to get through it, except for now. He'd never had a way for this. She was watching him expectantly, looking almost ready to explode into a fit of screaming and yelling, so he gestured to his throat and shook his head.

"Oh!" She gawked, suddenly blushing. "I'm sorry! Is your throat sore or something?" He shook his head again. "Er...do you not speak at all then?" This time he nodded. "Oh, oh, oh!" She exclaimed, not looking angry at all anymore. _'Do you use sign language then?'_

Red doesn't believe he's ever had a larger smile on his face compared to the one now. He'd _never _met another person on the street who could sign. _'Yes, I do. How do you know it?'_

_'My family does a lot of charity work with deaf and homeless organisations, so my siblings and I were um, taught to sign from when we began to learn to talk,' _She twirled her hair around her finger instinctively. Red assumed it was probably something she did in awkward situations, like how Green always ran his hands through _his _hair. It was pulled back into a ponytail, and Red liked this. He thought it suited her, especially since it was long and brunette. He was a little confused when he noticed this, as he'd never really paid attention to someone like this before, but he told himself it was because he hadn't talked to someone in a while.

_'That's interesting,' _He answered.

_'You're not deaf, are you?' _She peered at him, trying to work something out. _'Because I've been around a lot of people who are deaf, and you don't seem anything like them,'_

_'No, I just don't talk,' _He was no longer so intent on getting to the gym for some reason.

"What's your name, by the way?" She switched back to talking and hearing her voice once again startled Red a little, he'd been very focused on her signing. "I'm Mia,"

_'Red,'_

"As in the colour?" She chuckled, and it made him smile again. It was very sweet-sounding.

_'Well, yeah. I'm from Pallet Town, after all,' _He shrugged and she laughed again. His smile got wider.

_'I'm from around here,' _She frowned. _'How boring. I've never actually been too keen on Celadon, too busy for my tastes. Mind you, there is one good thing about here, and it's the department store,' _She grinned. _'You can buy anything there, seriously. I sound like their sales representative, don't I?'_

_'It is certainly different from Pallet,' _He agreed. _'But I like it. Anything that's better is bigger when you've grown up in a small town. It's like a fishbowl,' _There was no way to describe how relieved Red was to be finally out of Pallet Town. It was a nice place, but it was too small, and in small places people tend to gossip. So of course, everyone else being 'normal' besides him, him and his mother were the ones that were talked about. It was always the same thing too: "Is that boy disabled?" Or in the case of his mother: "What an awful mum she must be, allowing her child to not speak. She must have been very irresponsible when he was a baby, not teaching him properly," He knew it upset her, even if she tried not to show it. It upset him too, but he learnt to ignore them because he'd just be miserable if he let gossip get him down. There were a few good people in the town, ones that weren't judgemental and accepted him. Mainly the Oaks.

_'Have you been here before?'_

He nodded. _'Once, when I was four or something. I had to come see some throat specialist the doctor recommended, but it was a total waste of time,' _He remembered that trip moreso than any other. The specialist had only confirmed what they already knew - that he didn't talk. Besides that, he liked the trip. He remembers staring out the car windows, absolutely enthralled and fascinated with the huge buildings and all the people. He'd never experienced anything like that before. So he was excited about coming back here, he wanted to see if it was as good as he remembered. So far it had been. _'Have you been to Pallet?'_

_'Not Pallet, but everywhere else in Kanto, and most of Johto,' _She tacked on sheepishly at the end.

_'You should come to Pallet sometime, you could stay with me if you wanted,' _Once it was out, he immediately regretted it. He'd just met this girl and was already inviting her to stay with him? He really needed to work on his social skills...

But hey, he had an excuse, he'd only ever properly been able to talk to Green and his mother, so it was acceptable that he wasn't that great.

_'I'd love to,' _She giggled. _'It sounds like you're inviting me,' _This made him blush and he felt silly. Most of the time he was an unresponsive person when it came to facial expressions. Why was he suddenly losing everything now?

_'So, uh, tell me about Johto,' _He attempted to move the topic away from his mistake. _'I'd love to go there someday,'_

She smiled, knowing of his awkward change. Luckily she went with it anyway and Red mentally thanked her. _'Oh, it's lovely,' _She gushed. _'There are _so _many more trees, it's unbelievable! Most of the towns are really historic too, it's such a change from here where everything has only been developed recently,'_

_'You're very knowledgeable about the world, aren't you?'_

_'Well, I have travelled a lot,' _She shrugged her shoulders shyly. _'So I like to think I at least have some cool experiences to tell,'_

There was something about her that he liked that he just couldn't quite put his finger on. Was this what all city people were like? He couldn't be sure. He'd already been able to figure out that she just lived for the moment, having no idea what was going to happen tomorrow, but loving it at the same time. It was this that he thought he liked, it was nice. _'Why did you travel so much? You're not a trainer, right?'_

_'It was because of our work that I mentioned before,' _She said. _'We had to go around to all different cities and towns to work. It was so much fun,'_

The last thing she said made Red smile. He'd been doing that a lot more than usual today. _'Why aren't you still doing it then?'_

_'Oh, we are,' _She nodded, glancing down into her lap. _'Just within Kanto though, and mainly in Celadon and Saffron. I'm a little more independent though, now that I'm older. You know, you're a very good listener,'_

_'Well, thanks,' _Red wasn't sure whether it was a compliment or not. _'It's kind of hard not to be when you can never speak up,'_

"I like it," That was another thing about her, she was very frank. He didn't mind it at all. _'I talk too much, but you actually take what I say on board and listen. Not many people do that,'_

And he just smiled, not really sure how to respond.

"Also, I'm sorry I wasn't much fun today, I'm a little tired,"

_'That's okay,' _She was talking to him as if they'd known each other for ages. Once again, the frankness. _'I am too,'_

"Well, I promise next time we meet up I'll be more awake,"

_'Next time?'_

"You know, Red, for someone who doesn't talk, you're very talkative. But I have to go," She smiled and then stood up, just walking away.

_'Bye...' _He watched her go, wondering about the whole encounter. What did that last thing she say even mean?

* * *

**Reviews, please! :D**


	17. Team Rocket Base

I was quite stuck with this chapter. I didn't have any clue where to being writing about the Team Rocket base, as it is such a massive thing. So I've decided to do it in two or three chapters. Most likely two. Anyway, I hope I did it justice :)

* * *

**Chapter 17: Justice**

"Red really hated Team Rocket. He hated what they stood for and everything they were doing to pokemon and the people of Kanto. He had reason to as well, they weren't nice at all. He always had a strong sense of right and wrong, that kid," Green said, chuckling slightly at the end. "It was quite admirable, especially his determination to make things right. He didn't know that I knew it, but it was visible in his face that he wanted them gone,"

* * *

Red's battle in the Celadon Gym against Erika hadn't gone so well, let's just say he hadn't won. There were two reasons for this; the first one was that he'd planned to use Charmander because it had a type advantage, but when he'd gone into battle, it refused to attack and had just sat in the middle of the arena, yawning occasionally. He had recalled it frustratedly and then released Squirtle, knowing he was going to lose and he could at least get some sort of training done. Squirtle was pretty fierce and had held its own against Erika's Tangela, but in the end it had been defeated. He was a little disheartened, after all, he'd travelled for days on end just to get here. But he was also motivated to train harder, as he _wanted _to win.

The second reason he didn't win was because he was really distracted for some reason. He wasn't able to concentrate on the battle as his mind kept drifting back to his conversation with Mia. He kept remembering how her face would light up when she laughed, and how it made him smile. It was strange, he'd never let anyone distract him like this before, not even Green whenever he yelled sneering remarks to him when he was doing something important. So why was this one person whom he'd met _once _on his mind? It didn't add up...

So he'd left the gym, accepting his loss though feeling a little down about it and re-traced his steps back to the Pokecentre as Squirtle wasn't faring so well. It wasn't too badly injured, just unconscious. It probably just needed rest. After that, he'd have the rest of the day to explore the city, a task that he found a little daunting.

* * *

Red walked into the Game Corner, expecting it to be a video game arcade of some sort. He hadn't played a game in at least six months now and he figured it was about high time he did. He always used to play on his Super Nintendo Entertainment System with Green when they were younger, always competing to see who was better. It was about even between them, Red winning half the games, Green winning the other. They had always competed, ever since they could sign.

But as he stepped into the building, he didn't expect it to be a casino. He didn't even know gambling was allowed in Kanto, let alone in Celadon. It wasn't even very well maintained, there were no neon signs, just faded paintings and worn carpet. All-in-all, it had a very depressing, mid-eighties feeling. There were a few video games in the corner, but they were all taken up by children who probably had to wait while their parents squandered away their life savings. Red was a rather cynical person when he wanted to be.

He wasn't too keen on slot machines, but he walked further into the casino anyway as he had no other plans and needed a bit of down time. He headed down the aisles towards the counter where you could cash in your money for tokens and where the video games were situated. He just wanted to see what the rest of the place was like first, before he left. It was at the counter that he spotted that familiar black hat. It was on top of the head of a girl around his age. Besides the hat, she was dressed normally and there was no other way to tell that she was in Team Rocket. He could bet that no one else here would have noticed she was part of the organisation, and the only way he was able to tell was because he'd had so many run-ins with them.

He felt a little sad for her, how someone so young could already be mixed up in such an evil organisation. He hardly knew what they did, but he didn't like it. Well, she wasn't his problem, so he didn't think about it anymore.

"Aren't those posters cool?" She commented when she noticed him (most likely) gawking at her hat. She tilted her head towards some posters that were stuck against the back wall of the casino. They were advertising the various games the place had. "There is absolutely no secret switch behind them. I've already checked," She crossed her arms in a huff that was so terribly executed that Red saw right through it. He just shrugged and walked off, trying to look as nonchalant as possible while making his way over to the posters. He ran his hand underneath each one, and when he got to the third, he could feel a switch and pressed it down.

Well, if he didn't expect a casino, he certainly didn't expect a door to open in the wall and a flight of stairs to lead down into a basement.

As soon as he descended the stairs, Red was able to figure out what this place was. It was a Team Rocket base, presumably a secret one at that, due to the fact that they had someone upstairs trying to guard it. A dead giveaway was also the giant Team Rocket logo printed along the back wall. There was something else written underneath it, but he couldn't read it from this far away. It had a layout a lot like a warehouse with big open room. There were a few rooms, but nothing that he couldn't navigate.

The place had a dangerous atmosphere to it, as if bad things were happening around every corner. Red didn't feel safe and he wanted to go hide in the Pokecentre (because _no _harm could come to you there, he figured...) and be a _normal _trainer. But no, he couldn't be normal because he _wasn't _normal. He had strong opinions and liked justice, he definitely would not sit idly by while an evil organisation wreaked havoc throughout the region. No, that wasn't him, he had to at least try and make things right, even if it got him hurt. Which it did often. He would try and avoid it, not wanting to get involved with any criminal things, but it seemed trouble always followed him, making him be the one to save everyone or himself. He really hated his sense of justice sometimes, if it wasn't so strong (like a normal person), he _would _be able to avoid all this. But hey, he figured as long as everyone was safe, it was okay.

He ushered Pikachu forward, as the little mouse was eyeing off the area warily. This made him a little nervous, as Pikachu was always the confident one, leading him places. He worried that the reason it was reluctant to go on was because there _was _danger, but he had to go on anyway. It protested slightly as he moved, but followed him across the floor eventually. It was rather handy that he'd stumbled across this place so easily, because someone in Lavender Town had told him that to reach the top of the Pokemon Tower, he'd need the Silph Scope to identify the invisible pokemon that got in his way (he refused to call them ghosts). The only reason he wanted to reach the top anyway was because Mr Fuji was up there, and he really wanted to visit him, as he knew a fair bit about raising pokemon correctly, and Red wanted to do that. The person had then proceeded to tell him that they saw a report on the news about Team Rocket taking over Silph Corporation.

You'd think they'd have their base in the giant Silph building in Saffron City, but maybe the gatekeepers weren't letting them through either...

"Hey, a kid broke in?" A voice cut through the silence and Red whirled around to find where it was coming from. There was a Rocket sauntering towards him, a sneer on her face. "I should report this to the boss, but I want to take care of you myself. We don't want it getting out to everyone else that out security may be a little lax, do we?" She looked at him, expecting an answer. He shrugged his shoulders, and this only increased his sneer. What was with everyone being so grumpy in this organisation?

She held out a pokeball and released her pokemon. It was a Raticate. Oh dear, Red couldn't deal with this already. It had only been a week or so since he'd met Green in the Pokemon Tower and the memory of that was still fresh and caused him sadness. He stared at the creature, unable to move. He couldn't battle it, he couldn't do more damage to something he'd already killed only a month or so ago, it would just make him feel worse than he already did. What if Green's Raticate was the brother of this one? It had no idea that it's possible sibling had passed away, and that made him really upset. He just couldn't hurt this creature.

"Are you going to battle me?" She had noticed him standing frozen, and her voice was impatient. He shook his head and ran away, not able to look at Raticate anymore. He didn't know where he was going, so he re-traced his steps, but instead of going back up into the casino, he jumped down the next flight of stairs, the ones that were going down into the next level.

* * *

"Zubat, use Confusion!"

_'Pikachu, Thunderbolt,'_

* * *

"Koffing, Poison Gas!"

_'Thunderbolt,'_

* * *

"Ekans, use Bind!"

_'Pikachu, use Thunderbolt,' _And with those three attacks, he'd managed to defeat the only Rocket on that floor without receiving a single scratch to Pikachu. He hadn't realised how _easy _they were, he only had to use one attack. Maybe whoever it was that hired them just kept them employed as fodder to try and slow down or stop whoever was trying to 'infiltrate' their 'missions'. Because there were a lot of them and they were all very easy to fight. It didn't once cross Red's mind that he won because _he _was strong, as he didn't really have much faith in his own abilities.

"Stupid kid," The guy hissed under his breath. "How did I lose? I'd better go tell the boss about this brat," He watched the guy scuttle off and then surveyed the room. Something about the room unsettled him, and he thought it was the slogan that was written in large letter across the wall. _'Steal Pokemon for profit. Exploit Pokemon for profit. All Pokemon exist for the glory of Team Rocket.' _Each time he read it he shuddered. Their motto went against every single thing he stood for in life. And even abusing pokemon, that was taking it way too far. Before this he wasn't really sure what they did, but now he was. They were just evil, and that's the only thing they did too. He'd hated them from the first time he'd come across them in Mount Moon, but now he _detested _the organisation and was glad his sense of justice was at least helping them be brought down in some way.

There were these peculiar arrows printed on the ground, pointing in all sorts of directions. He'd never seen anything like them before. Were they there to try and trick 'intruders'? (Oh dear, he was starting to talk like the Rockets now) He looked at them, trying to work out what exactly they did. Coming up empty, he walked forward and stepped onto one that was pointing left. Well, Red had certainly had lots of unexpected things happen to him today, but this was by far the weirdest. He was being pushed in the direction of the arrows and everything he could see was a little hazy, as if he was spinning around very quickly. He hit another arrow and was pushed downwards. Eventually, he was able to stop when he hit some sort of carpeted floor.

What the hell was that?

Seriously, it was like a ride at an amusement park...but not. He placed his hands on his forehead, trying to get everything to stop spinning - he was so dizzy. Once he was able to regain his balance, he looked back around to where he came from. He'd travelled about thirty metres, that was pretty impressive for whatever it was he had stepped on. There were walls put up too, so you couldn't see what was on the other side. It was like a maze. That was when it dawned on him. The arrows would push him in a certain direction and he'd only be able to stop if he hit one of these carpet things, so he had to work out the route to wherever he was going before he stepped on the arrows. He'd spied some stairs from across the room before, so he guessed those were probably his best bet.

There were two sets of arrows near him, ones pointing left and ones pointing right. He'd just come from the right, so stepped onto the being pushed thing was the weirdest sensation ever, he could feel himself moving really quickly, but couldn't control where he was going. It freaked him out a little, but he just pulled his arms in tightly and waited until he stopped.

* * *

He was getting nowhere! This was incredibly frustrating! He'd been using these stupid arrows for at least an hour now and he was always ending up in the same spot, never reaching the stairwell. He'd thought he'd been on every possible arrow and was beginning to worry that he might be stuck in the maze forever. Team Rocket were an evil organisation, he wouldn't put it past them to do something like this in their base. He resigned himself to the fact that he'd probably be doing this for a while now and stepped onto an arrow he hadn't tried for a while, hoping it would have changed.


	18. Team Rocket Base 2

Longest chapter ever, wowee.

* * *

**Chapter 18: Giovanni**

"He needed to call me more," Red's mother said, staring at her hands in her lap. "He didn't realise how much I would worry everyday about him. But he was a child, and he was out doing his own thing. I am so proud of where he got to, he just needed to contact me more often. He still hasn't learnt," She laughed at the end.

* * *

After another half an hour of using those stupid arrows, Red had finally managed to get through the maze. He was incredibly frustrated by the time he'd finished and didn't have much more will to move forward through the building. If that's what the second level was like, then it would surely only get worse. He had allowed himself a few minutes break in which he slumped down against a wall and put his head in his hands. He wasn't sad or anything, just impatient and desperate. Desperate to leave this place, but to also to try and get to whoever was the head of Team Rocket. He wanted to make a difference before they got too large.

He pushed himself back up and straightened out his vest. He could do this, he had faith in himself. All he had to do was be patient and persist, that's all there was to it. So that's what he did, he strode forward with a newfound confidence and began to look around the room. There wasn't much happening besides two voices he could hear in the distance. He followed them and stopped just before a corner, allowing himself to peek around the wall occasionally too see what was happening.

"How was he even able to get in? We hid the switch behind a poster, for God's sake. Who looks behind posters?" There were two Rockets standing side by side. The one that spoke looked curiously sad, as if he wasn't very enthusiastic about his job, preferring not to be here. Red thought that was a little odd, as he'd always figured that to be a member of Team Rocket you had to believe in what you were doing. This guy didn't seem like he did at all, he seemed very tired too, his shoulders were slumping over in weariness.

What alarmed Red the most though was that they were talking about him. So now he had to be careful to make sure no one saw him, adding an extra chore to his list of what he was doing inside this building.

"Forget it," The other guy said. "It's not like one kid can do anything, we're a pretty big organisation," The first one closed his eyes and nodded, sighing. "You know, you should just quit already. I know you don't like this job,"

The first guy nodded again and took quite a while to reply, as if he was thinking something over in his head. "I wish I could," He said slowly. "But I need the money. I've told you that before,"

"I know," He replied, frowning. "Well, I have to go upstairs, I'm on guard duty for a bit," He readjusted his cap and then walked off down the hallway towards the stairwell. The guy who was left stepped backwards a few times and leant against the wall. He seemed really depressed here, and Red didn't blame him. How could anyone enjoy working in an organisation like this? Red moved forward a little, letting himself see further around the corner. This was a bad idea as he lost his balance and went stumbling right into the eyeline of the Rocket.

He could swear his heart stopped for a moment as he waited to be attacked either verbally or by pokemon, so when that didn't happen straight away, he was so relieved he actually felt like crying. He straightened up and looked directly at the man. His expression hadn't changed and he appeared to be unfazed by his sudden appearance. In his mind, Red was thanking whoever was up there for his _life_, because when he first fell into the room, he thought for a minute he might die. Something he wouldn't put past Team Rocket.

"It's you," The man said rather apathetically. "I'm not going to report you, so don't look so frightened," Red blinked a few times, he hadn't realised the fear was showing in his face so blatantly. He frowned slightly, trying to get rid of it. "I'm supposed to challenge you for a battle, but since I don't actually want you to stop trying to ruin Team Rocket, I won't," Well, that was nice of him. "And I know you don't talk, my colleague told me, so I'm not expecting an answer,"

It didn't prevent an awkward silence following though. Red continued to stare at him, and the Rocket fumbled nervously against the wall. "Uh, you can have this," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. When he noticed his hesitation, he continued. "Don't worry, it's not a set-up or anything. It's the key for the lift, if you go to the fourth floor, you'll find our boss. Please try and do something about him, you're the one that is actually trying to save Kanto from us, so you might as well go the whole way," Wow, this guy legitimately hated his job. Maybe he was trying to pull it down from the inside? Red took the key and stuffed it into his pocket, smiling at the guy. He hadn't met very many nice people in his travels so far, and coming across one in Team Rocket was even more surprising. "Good luck,"

Red nodded and quickly scurried off, suddenly realising how nervous he actually had been. His right hand had been curled up into a tight ball the whole time and his knuckles had turned white. He laughed silently at this and ran off to try and find the elevator.

* * *

Locating the elevator had been easy, it was just around the corner from where he had been with the Rocket. He'd gotten to the fourth floor and immediately been challenged by two others. They were guarding a heavily locked door and seemed to be taking their job very seriously. They sneered at him as he walked towards them and immediately grabbed out a pokeball each.

"How can you not see the beauty of our evil?" One of them said. Yeah, they were really gung-ho about their organisation. He'd managed to take out their Ekans and Zubat fairly easily, and once defeated, the same one fell down to his knees and wailed. "Boss, I'm sorry I failed you!" And then he hit the switched he'd been standing in front of and the door swung open, revealing a very elaborate office.

Everything was decorated with burgundy and gold, it seemed like a mafia lord's office. There was a large desk sitting against the wall, and behind it sat a man. He couldn't really see what he looked like from here, but he was decked out in a black suit with a giant red 'R' on his chest pocket. Red could feel his hands beginning to shake, he hadn't realised how large a thing this was. The fate of _Kanto _could be resting in his hands for all he knew. _He was about to confront the boss of a criminal organisation, for God's sake! _He didn't want to move forward, as he was...scared. He just seemed so daunting, sitting there, waiting for him.

He swallowed his nerves and took a step forward. Once he took that first one, he found that his feet were moving on their own now. They were carrying him towards this man, as if he was meant to do this. Something on the way caught his eye though. It was pushed back on one of the shelves that lined the walls, as if it was trying to be hidden. He wasn't sure what it was, but it looked a little like binoculars. The only reason he noticed it was because it was shiny and sparkled in the light as he walked by.

He came to a stop in front of the desk, placing his palms down onto its surface. A smile spread across the man's face, freaking Red out. Why was he so happy to see him? But now that he was closer, he could see him properly. He wasn't nearly as old as he'd pictured an evil boss to be, in fact, he only looked like he was in his early thirties, the same age as his mother. He had these menacing eyes that could cut anyone down if he stared at them. Red spent most of the next ten minutes or so trying to avoid looking into them.

"So, Red, I must say I'm impressed that you got here," He said, leaning back in his chair. How did this man know his name? That really bugged Red, because this person was in charge of the organisation he hated so much. He could practically see the evil seeping out of him, and him saying his name seemed taboo. He never wanted anyone so bad associating with him, _speaking his name no less. _His detestment for Team Rocket was fueled whenever he looked into the Boss's face. "I've never had anyone defeat all my grunts and find the lift key before, so it's almost refreshing to finally meet someone here," He smirked. "You know what's even more surprising? That it was a trainer from Pallet Town. That place is a dead end, the scum of Kanto. Really, in all my years I don't think I've ever seen anything good come from there,"

_Fuck. _Red's expression twisted into a frown. He was angry, _very _angry. He wasn't the biggest fan of Pallet himself, but he didn't like it when this man just outright began insulting it. It was where he came from, and was always going to be a part of him, not matter how far he travelled. So to have this being said was offensive and he could understand now how this guy was the boss of a criminal organisation.

"And you don't speak either, do you?" He continued. "That's cute, probably a phase you'll grow out of when you get to twenty. I suppose I should commend you on being able to battle without words, that requires some skill. So well done," How the _hell _did he even know all this stuff about him? He hadn't told the other Rockets anything about himself, not even his name. Each time he spoke, he infuriated Red more. This time he was making fun of him!

"Anyway, I've forgotten to introduce myself, how rude of me. I'm Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket," His smirk got wider, obviously sensing the reaction from Red. "You know how whenever a trainer begins their travel, they're always told '_you can use pokemon for battle or as a pet,'? _Well, I consider pokemon a business. In case you don't know yet, we're an organisation dedicated to exploiting them for our own profit. It's working very well so far, don't you think?"

Well, that was the last straw for Red. He couldn't listen to this hatred for any longer, he had to do something. _'Pikachu, come forward,' _He said to the little creature who had been cowering behind his legs for some time now. He'd thought it was scared, but it jumped in front of him as he stepped backwards, baring it's teeth at Giovanni.

"Oh, we're going to have a battle?" He raised an eyebrow and stood up from his seat. "Very well," He pulled open a drawer in his desk and grabbed out a pokeball. "Rhydon," He released something Red had never seen before. It was a stone-looking creature slightly resembling a dinosaur. "Horn Attack," Rhydon charged towards them, and Red jumped out the way to avoid getting hit. God, he'd never thought he'd be battling in an office.

_'Use Slam,' _Pikachu was running straight for the giant creature and was about to attack when Red felt something jiggling around in his pocket. It was a pokeball, and he pulled it out just in time because Charmander came exploding out of it. This creature had such a mind of its own... But it was probably a better choice than Pikachu, electric attacks weren't effective. _'Come back, Pikachu. Charmander, use Ember,'_

It stepped forward slowly, claws out at the ready. Rhydon was stamping its foot impatiently while Charmander stared it down. Now, this is what Red really loved about battling. How intense and exciting it could be, just waiting for the next move. Charmander narrowed its eyes, and then suddenly hit Rhydon with a long stream of fire. It was sent flying back, almost hitting Giovanni. Red chuckled silently at this, it was satisfying.

"Rhydon, get up," He snapped, and this made him wince. His words were so harsh, there was no love in how he spoke to his pokemon. "Use Horn Attack again,"

_'Keep using Ember,' _This time Rhydon hit Charmander, and it toppled over with the force of the attack. But it was tough and had an iron will when there was a worthy opponent, so it pulled itself back up and proceeded to follow Red's command.

* * *

This was the tensest moment Red had ever experienced. Both Charmander and Rhydon were so weak that they were one attack away from fainting. The winner of this battle depended solely on this last attack, and Red sure as hell wasn't going to let the boss of _Team Rocket _beat him.

_'You can do it, Charmander. Just use Scratch,'_

"Rock Blast,"

Red held his breath, counting the seconds until a winner was determined. There was a big muddle where the two creatures were attacking and it was hard to see which one had the upper hand. Eventually (after one-hundred-and-twenty-six-seconds), Rhydon collapsed to the ground and Charmander stood in the middle of the room, a look of utter joy was on it's face, and this made Red smile. Oh, that and the fact he'd just beaten the boss of the organisation he hated.

What made him smile _even more _was the fact that Charmander had began to glow. He remembered this from when he was sitting on the beach in Vermilion City and it happened to Bulbasaur. It soon was completely engulfed in this white light and seemed to be growing. He watched in awe, the magic of this never changed. For a moment he almost forgot where he was and the current situation, he was that entranced. Eventually the light began to fade away, and in place of Charmander was Charmeleon.

"Well," Giovanni cleared his throat. "I see you raise your pokemon with the utmost care. Except that Charmander, it seems to have an attitude. Perhaps you're not strong enough," He smirked again and Red had to tell himself to breathe deeply and calm down. "I know you don't like me, but I know a lot about pokemon. Try paying extra attention to that as well as your Pikachu, it might make it a little more obedient," How dare this man tell him how to raise his pokemon when he so obviously abused his. Red really needed to learn to control his temper... "I'm going to give you thise," He reached into his drawer again and pulled out a little binocular type item. "It's the Silph Scope, you can use it to identify ghosts. You're a strong trainer, so you'll do well,"

Red grabbed the item and inspected it. It was exactly the same as what he'd seen on the shelf before except it wasn't shiny, it was made of plastic.

"I shall step aside this time, but I hope we meet again," Red nodded, trying to fight back the urge to punch him in the face. He turned away briskly and strode towards the doors. On the way out, he pulled down the Silph Scope from the shelf and tossed the fake one Giovanni had given him onto the floor. It was a final act of defiance and he left the building feeling annoyed, yet very satisfied.


	19. Celadon City 2

Well, hey there, friends. This is a terrible filler chapter, nothing really happens. But I don't like writing battles, they're so boring.

Anyway, I had a review saying "thank you, sir, or madam I guess," or something like that. So anyway, you should all know that I'm a girl, not a guy, haha. Most of my readers seem to be guys though...

* * *

**Chapter 19: Loneliness**

"I like cities," Green was saying for Red, who was signing away to him. "They're nice after living in such a small town for your whole life. But sometimes I can't help but wonder how they can justify spending so much money on buildings and things when little ones will suffice. I mean, there are lots of problems in the world that all that money could be put towards fixing. Like homelessness, that's rampant in cities. But besides that, life seems pretty good,"

* * *

Celadon City felt strangely lonely for Red after he'd come out of the Rocket hideout. Lots of people were in the streets, it was as busy as any other day, but it still felt empty. He'd gone to the gym to battle Erika again, and this time had won (no thanks to Charmeleon, which you know, had an advantage and everything). For some reason this time, he'd found the battle easy. He was able to take out all three of her pokemon only using Squirtle and Ivysaur, and neither of them had fainted. The whole battle had been finished in about twenty minutes, which was relatively quick for a gym battle, and just a battle in general. He wasn't sure why he found it so easy this time, but he wasn't going to complain. Maybe he'd just been so worked up about Giovanni that all that frustration just came out in the fight.

Oh well, he was just happy he'd won. He'd accepted the badge graciously and left the building, wondering what to do next. This hadn't cured his loneliness he'd been feeling, and he sat down on a bench in front of the department store, trying to work out why he felt like this. He'd never felt it before, so something must have happened. He tilted his head upwards, looking at the store in front of him. It was so huge, five storeys if he wasn't mistaken. He had never seen a shop so big before, it was weird. Red wasn't really sure he saw the point of something so big, surely everything you could buy there was available in a mart.

He shrugged his shoulders, he didn't have anything else to do, so he might as well go have a look around inside. He stood up and hitched his bag up on his back before walking forwards and into the store. He took two steps inside and then stopped. He suddenly knew why the city was feeling so empty and lonely. He knew it sounded lame, but it was because Mia wasn't around. This was _her _city, and without her in it, everything was just a bit grey for Red. She'd made such an impression on him and he couldn't work out why. He'd met lots of people and he'd never thought about them quite as much as this. He didn't like this feeling, it wasn't nice, and suddenly he wanted to be out of the city as fast as possible. He had nothing else to do, and without her here it was a bit depressing. He didn't see the point of staying if there was no reason for him to be here.

But Red didn't leave the store immediately because he was running low on everything, battle items, medicine, and _food _even. There was nothing on the first floor besides an information counter which a lady sat behind, telling everyone what was on which floor. He didn't approach her, as it would have just been awkward, so instead he just took the escalator up to the next level.

Goodness, he'd never seen so many things to buy in all his life. Every wall was lined with shelves, and they were all stacked with everything you could imagine. He looked through some of them, finding that most of it was all ridiculously overpriced. He had wanted to stock up on everything, hoping that it was some sort of discount store, but found that he was only able to afford an Antidote, which really wasn't all that helpful. It looked like he was just going to have to rely on Pokecentres for a while. He pulled it down from the shelf and headed over to the counter.

"That's ten dollars," The sales assistant said, scanning the item. She wasn't much older than him and seemed rather bored with her job. Red didn't blame her, he wouldn't be able to stand being cooped up inside a building like this for hours on end. He pulled his wallet out from his pocket and handed her over the money. Well, there went most of his money. He only had twenty dollars left which he needed to save for other important things such as food.

* * *

_'What should I get?' _Red asked Pikachu and Charmeleon who were sitting at his feet. They were on the rooftop of the department store and there were vending machines. Red had seen them and was immediately thirsty, it had been forever since he'd had had a fizzy drink. Right now he was leaning towards lemonade, but it was fifty cents more than soda, and he _did _want to save (that twenty-dollars he had left was now down to fifteen). Pikachu nudged the machine in response to his question. _'Real helpful,' _He rolled his eyes. _'Just point to the machine, don't actually give me an answer or anything,'_

He had Charmeleon out of its pokeball because (and he hated himself for it) of the advice he had been given from a certain someone he didn't want to name. He didn't want to follow the tips they had given him, but he really wanted Charmeleon's trust, and to at least calm its attitude somewhat. And he had to admit, they did sort of know what they were talking about. So he decided to keep it out of its ball for a while, have it travel along with him so it could see that he's not a bad person. It seemed to be responding fairly well so far, not trying to run away from him or anything. That would be fairly easy for it to do in such a large city, so he was feeling pretty happy about it wanting to stay with him.

_'I'm buying soda, no thanks to you guys or anything,' _He pulled out his wallet once again and pushed three dollars worth of coins into the machine. He entered in the code for the drink he wanted and the can rolled out into the bottom of the machine. He pulled it out and set it down on the table where his things were. Before opening the drink, he unzipped his bag and pulled out the paper he'd bought two floors below (which is why his money had been down to fifteen). His mother had told him to keep in contact with her more, so a letter seemed like an alright idea. He pulled the lid off his pen and began to write.

_Hey, mum,_

_I'm in Celadon City, in the department store there actually. You know, the gigantic building there? I think it's the tallest in all of Kanto, you can see it from Cerulean! Well, I couldn't, but that's because I wasn't really looking out for it._

_Anyway, do you remember when we came here when I was younger? I really liked it back then, and I really like it now too. It's so much different from Pallet, there are more than like, ten people here, I'm not used to it. It's just a shame it isn't by the ocean. I also met this girl here, her name is Mia. She has this really nice brunette hair that goes shiny when it's in the sun. That probably sounds lame, but it does. The only reason I'm mentioning her to you is because she knows how to speak sign language. It was so weird meeting someone in the street I could actually talk to._

_Oh, you'll never guess what I just did. I just beat the gym here, the leader is called Erika. The first time I tried I lost, but this time I won. It was frustrating, my Charmeleon (which had an advantage!) refused to battle, so I had to use Ivysaur and Squirtle. But that's okay, because I did win. That's not the important part though, because the day before that I infiltrated the Team Rocket hideout here and defeated their boss. I don't know if you've heard of Team Rocket, I don't think they bother people in small towns, but they're this criminal organisation that keep getting bigger and bigger and I'm worried they're going to take over all of Kanto. I hate them so much, they abuse and exploit pokemon for profit._

Red was getting angry just writing and thinking about them, and he found he had to look away from the page and take a deep breath to make himself feel better. His handwriting had gotten considerably messier since he mentioned them and he hoped his mother wouldn't notice. He'd forgotten all about his drink, and his gaze fell on it when he looked up from his letter. It was here that he had an idea.

_Hey, I've just had the best idea, so I have to rush off! See you later, mum._

_P.S. I hope you're doing well._

_P.P.S. I'll call you next time I find a phone._

_P.P.P.S. Tell Professor Oak and Green's mother that I said hi._

He quickly stuffed the letter into the envelope and scrawled his home address onto it. Then he pulled his bag onto his shoulders, grabbed the can of drink and sprinted down the stairs onto the fifth floor. He was about to make a dash down the rest of the escalators when he caught site of an elevator on the other side of the wall. He sprinted towards that and pressed the button, tapping his fingers impatiently on his leg trying to get it to hurry up and get to the floor. There was a queue building up behind him, and when the doors did finally open, he rushed inside and slammed down the first floor button. There was absolutely no rush, but he felt like there was, as if he'd forget his idea if he didn't hurry.

But seriously, why was the elevator taking so long to get to the bottom floor?

There was that lovely 'ding' that Red had been waiting for, and he pushed past everyone and bolted out the building. This didn't go down too well with a lot of the people in the store and a few called out to him angrily for rushing past them and bumping into their shoulders. It didn't bug him though, as he just _had _to get there as soon as possible. He was forced to slow down when he got into the streets because they were packed with people. He could hardly run anymore and had to settle for a fast-walk type thing. He was frustrated, why were there so many people? Celadon was the region's biggest city for shopping though, so it was kind of explainable.

On his way through the streets of the city, he found a postbox and had shoved his letter in there. She'd probably get it in two days, when he wasn't even in Celadon anymore. He could see the gates out of the city just in the distance, and he sped his pace up. Almost there now...

* * *

"The road is closed," The gatekeeper said, frowning at Red. He couldn't believe that they still weren't letting people through, had they really not had a drink at all over the past two months or so? They were really inconveniencing travellers that wanted to get into the city, himself for example.

But now he was going to fix it. His idea came into action right here. He pulled his bag off his back and searched around for the soda he'd put inside on his way. He pulled out the can and held it up for the man to see. He looked at it in confusion, not really sure what Red's plan was. He placed it on the counter, pushing it towards him. "Is this for me?" Red nodded, rolling his eyes slightly. Finally he understood! "Well, thanks. I've been so thirsty," He cracked open the top of the drink and guzzled about half the can down. "You can go through to Saffron if you want. I'll share this with the other guards, they'll open the gates up. Thanks again, kid,"

Red walked out of the building in a bit of a daze. It had actually worked, wow. He had only half believed that his plan was going to succeed, so he was quite happy that it actually had. And now, well, he was in Saffron City! He'd never been here before and it had always seemed a little elusive, as if it wasn't really there and the gates just led through to Vermilion and Cerulean. He wouldn't be able to stay here for long, in fact he was leaving now. He had to go back to Lavender Town to try and find Mister Fuji.

* * *

**Reviews?**


	20. Pokemon Tower 2

God, this is so depressing. Why do I write such sad stuff? I'm the happiest person in the world, seriously.

Anyway, a while ago I got a review saying "Red has a lot to say, he just can't say it," or something along those lines. And whoever wrote that, you got it spot on. That's basically the whole point of this story, haha. And I think the point of this chapter is that Red's detestment for Team Rocket was justified. Really, I got a bit sad writing this, haha!

* * *

**Chapter 20: Ghosts**

"Whenever I would go and visit Raticate in the Pokemon Tower, there would always be a fresh bouquet of flowers there," Green said in confusion. "I don't know who put them there, but it was lovely. It was almost as if I had someone looking out for me,"

* * *

Coming back to Lavender Town felt a little like a regression in his journey to Red, but he had told himself when he had first left that he would return to try and talk to Mister Fuji. He didn't like breaking promises, so here he was. The town creeped him out a little, and every so often a cool breeze would brush past his shoulders, making him shiver. He figured that it was because of the outlet to the ocean, and had nothing to do with the graveyard that was in the corner (and no, he still didn't believe in ghosts).

Mister Fuji was a very well-known man throughout Kanto, as he often appeared on radio shows talking about the importance of raising your pokemon with love and care. He was also said to have done research of the legendary pokemon Mew, but no one knew if this was true because no one knew if Mew actually existed. Red believed it though, he knew that there were higher powered pokemon out there somewhere, you just had to look. The main reason he had wanted to come through Lavender was so he could have a talk with Mister Fuji and see how he was faring as a trainer so far.

He'd visited the Volunteer Pokemon House, which was a shelter for abandoned pokemon that was right in the middle of the town. Mister Fuji ran it, and lived there too in the adjoining house. It was a non-profit organisation and existed by solely relying on the donations from citizens of Kanto. It did fairly well though, and mostly everyone in the region was in support of it. Red knew his family were, as he'd seen his mother donating fifty dollars to it once. If he didn't already have an ambition, he would like to open a place like this in another town when he's older. He'd poked his head around the open door, and one of the volunteers that worked there told him that Mister Fuji was still up in the Pokemon Tower. He'd seemed a little concerned about him, as he said the man never left this place unless he had a proper reason. This time he'd just left one morning without saying anything about it.

This worried Red a little too, but he decided to go up to the Pokemon Tower and find him anyway. What if something was wrong and he needed help? He frowned and walked away from the shelter, and as he turned back away from it and back to the town, he noticed the little florist next to the Pokecentre. The thing that drew his attention towards it was that it wasn't a store, it was just a stall. And behind the stall was a very short lady, arranging bouquets of flowers into stands around her cart. There were a few people queueing up to buy flowers, so she didn't seem like she was doing too badly.

He wandered over to the cart and inspected the flowers. They were lovely, every colour imaginable and every type available. He was a guy, but he did know what looked good and what didn't, and most of these looked _very _good. It was a split second decision, but he grabbed a bouquet of wildflowers that were blue and orange in colour. He didn't really have the money for them, but he figured that it was a kind of important thing to do and that he could probably spare five dollars or so (it looked like he'd be having the free dinner provided at the Pokecentre, no _real _food tonight!).

"They're five-ninety-five," The woman who owned the stall said, smiling up at him. He fished out the money and handed it over to him. "Aren't they lovely?" She cooed, and he nodded, not quite sure what to make of her friendliness. "The wildflowers are always my favourite, I pick them myself from up around the Rock Tunnel," He smiled awkwardly back at her, not really sure what to do. She didn't seem to be expecting an answer, so he was free to take the bouquet and head off.

* * *

Was it just Red, or did the Pokemon Tower seem a lot creepier since the last time he was here? The first time he wasn't aware about Raticate and hadn't experienced that translucent thing blocking his path, so he couldn't feel anything eerie in the atmosphere, but this time he was getting chills and felt a little nervous being here. Almost as if he was being watched by something. He tried to forget about the feeling, but it was always present at the back of his mind, no matter how much he tried to distract himself.

He reached the top of the stairs and that all-too-familiar grave came into sight. It still looked brand new, mind you, it had only been around two weeks since he had met Green here. But it seemed particularly clean, standing out from all the others around it that were a little dirty from years of wear. There was a wilting bouquet of flowers placed next to the headstone and he assumed that his rival had put them there when Raticate had first been buried. He smiled, but it was melancholy, as he was feeling quite sad. He still partially blamed himself for this, and he knew that he'd never be able to look at a Raticate again without wanting to cry. And battling one, he couldn't even fathom the idea.

He cleared away the flowers Green had placed there and put his own down. It was the least he could do after killing the poor creature. Oh God, he felt so guilty. _'I'm sorry, Raticate,' _He said, staring down at the engraving on the headstone. _'I know you probably can't understand what I'm saying, but I just hope that you and Green are happy wherever you are...I'm sorry,' _He bowed his head for a minute in respect to Raticate and then stood up, ushering Pikachu and Charmeleon to follow him.

He surveyed the room and found that a lot of the graves had people in front of them. Either families, couples or just people on their own, but they were all mourning. Some of them were weeping in front of the headstones, some were talking to their late pokemon and the others were just sitting silently. From listening to other people for so many years and not being able to speak to them, Red had become very attuned to people's emotions. He could feel all their sadness throughout him even though he'd never met the people, and he had to steady himself against the wall. He closed his eyes, letting the dizziness and intensity pass before allowing himself to take a step forward.

He crossed the room and up the next stairs. The first thing he noticed about the next level was that there were absolutely no mourners, instead there were several women standing in front of graves with their eyes closed. They all seemed to be talking and as Red approached one of them, he heard her chanting. She was swaying slightly, and as he stopped in front of her, her eyes snapped open and she stared directly at him, still muttering. This freaked Red the hell out, what was happening to her? Was she having a fit? In that case, shouldn't he call an ambulance or something? But you know how your mind works in a crisis, you just kind of freeze, not sure what to do. Well, that happened to Red.

He was about to run away when he heard her mutter something coherent.

"Haunter, use Confuse Ray!" A small cloud of mist stuff appeared in front of her and began to circle Pikachu. Red could see Pikachu following it with its eyes, and when the mouse tried to turn to Red, it walked in a circle, apparently very dizzy. He frowned and picked Pikachu up, cradling the confused creature in his right arm. With his other one, he reached into his bag and pulled out the Silph Scope. He had no idea how the thing worked, so he just looked into the lenses.

Suddenly he could see everything. Well, what the mist was at least. It was a purple creature with a large smile on its face. A sinister looking smile, as if it enjoyed being invisible. He placed Pikachu back down, making sure that it stayed by his feet. He didn't want it wandering off in its dizzy state. _'Charmeleon, use Ember,' _It nodded and let out a small flame from its mouth. This caught onto Haunter's tail and it yelped in pain. _'And again,' _It flew off behind the woman, and suddenly she stopped swaying.

"Oh, sorry," She bowed her head. Hearing her speak in complete sentences surprised him a little. "I was possessed by Haunter. I probably scared you out of your wits," He stared up at her, not wanting to smile because that wasn't the right response, but not wanting to frown either. Unfortunately, she took this as a sign of fright and she looked sad. "I didn't mean to," She mumbled, sighing. He nodded and scooped up Pikachu. The poor creature was still confused and would probably be out of action for half an hour or so.

He was able to avoid all the other women who were 'possessed' and found himself standing at the stairwell he was previously blocked at before. He tried to walk forward again (you know, just to try), and was pushed away as expected. This time an eerie voice echoed around him. "...Be gone, intruders," He felt a hard push on his chest and he was shoved back into the wall. He was annoyed now, who gave that not-ghost a right to push him around? He was still holding the Silph Scope, and he peered through it to find out just what this was trying to possibly kill him.

It was a Marowak. But Marowak aren't ghost pokemon? Then it dawned on Red, that this was the mother of the Cubone that had been killed in here, and it was just trying to look out for it's child. Red's eyes widened, ghosts really did exist, because this pokemon was dead. This sent a chill up his spine and he wanted to run away like he did last time. But he couldn't now because he was actually so close to meeting Mister Fuji, and this thing couldn't stop him this time.

He placed Pikachu back down on the ground, as the creature had snapped out of it's confusion a little while ago and was just being lazy now. But he wasn't able to battle with Pikachu, much to its dismay, because Marowak was ground and Pikachu would be able to do no damage to it. Charmeleon looked like it wanted to battle, but Red wouldn't let it. Instead he reached inside his bag for Squirtle's pokeball and released the creature.

_'Use Water Gun at Marowak,' _Red said, and Squirtle nodded determinedly. Red was glad he'd been given Squirtle, because it wasn't a bad, rogue pokemon like Jenny had proclaimed. It just liked causing mischief, and without a trainer to guide it, it went a bit awry. But since he'd had it, it had been a good battler, always listening to what he had to say and determined to do its best. Not like that certain other pokemon we know.

Marowak was hit hard by Squirtle, but didn't faint. It came back over to them and pulled a bone out from behind its back. Where it came from was beyond Red, but it hit Squirtle hard with it, an attack that looked a lot like Bone Club. Squirtle was clever though, and just before it was hit, it retracted itself into it's shell, so only that was hit. When it thought it was safe to come out, it did and looked at Red for the next attack. _'Water Gun again,'_

Once Marowak was hit this time, something strange happened. It just stood still and began to slowly fade away. At first this frightened Red, because he didn't know what was happening, but after a moment he remembered that it was a ghost (he still didn't like using that word), and that was normal. Once it was gone, he recalled Squirtle and took a cautious step up the stairs. A smile spread across his face when he realised that he was able to get up them this time, nothing was blocking his path.

* * *

He'd walked up all the stairs and had come into a room empty of any graves. It seemed a little weird after having so many graves to suddenly have none. But his biggest concern were the two Rockets approaching him. They looked familiar, and he remembered he had battled them in Mount Moon. There was a woman and a man, and they had a Meowth between them. He sighed silently, of course Team Rocket were here, could they not leave him in peace anywhere? But he had no time for them right now, because he'd just spotted Mister Fuji across the other side of the room.

He ran through the Rockets, leaving one staring angrily, and the other one yelling at him. He didn't care though, because after this he would finally be able to go to Saffron City! He ran over to the older man, but had to take a moment to catch his breath before straightening up to speak to him. He was very happy though, because this man had been somewhat of an idol to him, and he really liked all the work that he did with the orphaned and homeless pokemon.

"Hello there," Mister Fuji smiled warmly at him. "Have you come to speak to me?" Red nodded. "You've gone through an awful lot of effort to get up here, I see you must have been quite urgent. I was up here to try and look after Cubone, I was willingly up here"

_'You have n...' _He began to sign, and then stopped himself. He really must remember that not everyone could understand him, but it was just a force of habit. Mister Fuji didn't seem to have noticed, and Red was a little grateful for that. He would have probably assumed he was deaf, and that never went well.

"This kid doesn't care about the rights of pokemon at all," Another voice chimed in, and Red saw it belonged to the female Rocket. Both of them were now standing on both his sides, grinning deviously. And what did she just say? He cared about the rights! That was the main thing he cared about!

"Yeah," The other man said. "We battled him back near Pewter City and he abuses his pokemon. He yelled at them and hit them if they didn't do what he wanted. We thought it was awful, and we're in Team Rocket!"

Red was about to burst into tears. How could these people say such awful things about him when he was one of the most _caring _trainers? It really hurt him, and he would never ever fathom doing something like that. He didn't even know people did that until he met Team Rocket. And right now, he hatred for the organisation went even deeper. They were _horrid _people, not just a terrible organisation. They actually enjoyed ruining people's lives. They were taking advantage of him, just because he couldn't do anything about it.

You know what? Red bet that they were the ones that killed Cubone's mother too, because once again, they enjoyed creating misery. But how could they kill? Take a life? That was beyond comprehension.

"Is this true?" Mister Fuji was frowning at him, looking sad. Red shook his head frantically, but he didn't seem to believe him. "How could a young boy be so misguided that he abuses his pokemon? It's so disappointing,"

This was the worst thing Red had ever experienced. Why did Mister Fuji believe them? He was supposed to be a good man, Red looked up to him, for goodness sake! Well, not anymore. If he was going to believe all that filth that the Rockets were saying about him, then he didn't deserve it. But that didn't stop the aching in Red's chest that had developed when the female Rocket had spoken. It hurt, and he was incredibly upset. He just didn't know how humans could be so cruel.

"Just look at his Charmeleon," The male Rocket continued. "It stands there with it's arms crossed, obviously feeling afraid of its trainer,"

_Oh, way to go, Charmeleon. _Red rolled his eyes at the creature, it was always causing him such fuss.

"You're absolutely right," Mister Fuji nodded. "We must rescue these pokemon from such a terrible trainer," Red felt his jaw drop open slightly. There was no way in _hell _they were taking his pokemon away from him. They were his best friends! "Come here, Charmeleon, Pikachu," The older man cooed softly. The creatures looked at him, and Pikachu grabbed onto the bottom of Red's pants tightly, and Charmeleon his behind his legs. Well, at least they would rather stay with him. That made the ache hurt a little less. Especially for Charmeleon, he thought it didn't like him.

"Well, it appears that they want to stay with him," He said. "It's their choice, and I hope they don't get yelled at too badly for it," He stared at his pokemon in pity. "I'm going to go, goodbye," Red watched Mister Fuji descend the stairs, so relieved that the torment was finally over.

"Have fun, twerp," The female Rocket grinned, and then ushered the others down the stairs with her.

Red slumped down against the wall, placing his head in between his knees. He didn't want anyone to come up here and see him bawling his eyes out. Especially silently, that always creeped everyone out a little bit. But right now, he felt horrible. He had lost all faith in people, how could they be so awful that they purposely made him out to be the worst trainer in existence? They wanted to ruin his life and make him unhappy, but _why? _How could anyone like doing that? He had believed in the inherent goodness in everyone, but now he wasn't sure. He put his arms around his chest, trying to forget the ache created by their words. He was a good person, nothing like what they had led Mister Fuji to believe.

He felt a little tug on his pants leg, and he blinked through the tears to find Pikachu hugging his leg. It looked up at him in concern. _'I'll be okay,' _He said, trying to smile. Pikachu didn't believe it, and neither did Charmeleon, who had slowly put it's arms around his other leg. This _genuinely _made him smile though, because if people weren't good, at least his pokemon were. They were his best friends, there was no doubt about that.

He lifted his head up from in between his knees, and noticed something shiny lying in the middle of the floor. It looked a little like a flute.


	21. Lavender Town and Route 8

Nothing much happens in this chapter, but I wanted to write a happy filler, so I hope I did well! Anyway, thank you everyone for all the reviews! It really appreciate them and it makes me excited to keep writing :)

Alsoooo, my chapters are getting longer! Yay!

There was something else I was going to say, but I forgot :|

Oh yeah! They have phones with screens because they do in the anime!

* * *

**Chapter 21: Dreams**

"Someone once told me that you never really get over a death, no matter how big or small, or what impact it made on you was. I always kind of dismissed it, thinking that if you weren't strong enough to get over it, then you just had to be stronger. But now I know that they were right, that it is always just there at the back of your mind. I miss Raticate everyday, and I don't wish what I went through on anyone," Green said, his eyes downcast.

* * *

After years of being avoided and talked about, Red had somewhat grown to accept being an outsider. He didn't let what people said about him get him down, as that just wouldn't be clever and result in him being unhappy. But this was different. It was the first time in about eight years he had cared about what had been said, and the Rockets had left him emotionally crippled for a day or two. He just couldn't fathom how someone could take advantage of someone like that, just because they were spiteful. Mister Fuji was one of the kindest people in the whole region, and now _he _thought that he was a bad trainer. Whenever he was reminded of that, it made him want to curl up into a ball and just stay like that.

After the incident, he'd wandered back down to the Pokecentre and suddenly felt the need to talk to someone. Well, not just anyone, but someone that was familiar. Green or his mother, or anyone that he could just vent to. Since Green wasn't around, and there was a phone in the Pokecentre, his mum seemed like the best bet. He pushed the number of his home into the keypad and watched as the screen brightened up. It scrambled a little bit, and then she was staring back at him through the screen.

"Red, I'm so glad to hear from you!" Her face broke into a smile when she saw who it was.

_'Hey, mum,' _Okay, this had been a bad idea. He felt stupid and sad and couldn't stop that from showing on his face. He knew that she'd pick up on him being unhappy straight away, and even though at first he'd wanted to talk with someone, now he didn't want a big fuss made over him. He could deal with it himself, he always did. Red was much happier when he was by himself anyway, not with other people.

She appeared to be studying him through the screen for a moment, and he sighed. He knew what was going to come next. _'Are you okay, baby? Your cheeks are really red like you've been crying,' _She frowned, looking worried for her son's wellbeing.

_'I'm fine...' _He mumbled, wiping his cheeks to try and get them to a normal colour again. With them being red, it probably meant that his eyes were like that too, blatantly showing that yes, he had been crying. He didn't want anyone to see that, it was embarrassing. She raised an eyebrow at him, not believing a word he was saying. _'It's Team Rocket, mum,' _He admitted. He'd never been able to lie to his mother, he always ended up blurting out whatever he didn't want to say, which usually got him in trouble. She could always see through him anyway, being able to tell instantly if something was on his mind. It bugged him sometimes, but in the end it was a good thing.

_'Red, please don't let them get you down. They're terrible people and I don't want you feeling upset over them, they aren't worth your time,'_

_'You know them then?' _Deep breaths, Red. Don't get upset now, it won't help.

She nodded, and he noticed that she looked quite upset when she mentioned them, which was a little strange. Was she just saying that because he mentioned he hated them in his letter? _'Of course I do, and I think they're evil and should be jailed. But I don't want you doing anything reckless, okay? Don't get hurt,'_

_'Okay, mum,' _He said. He knew that she was just being protective like a mother should be, but he wasn't going to do nothing if they were trying to take over Kanto (which he suspected they were). _'I'm not really upset over the whole organisation, it was just that I was up in the Pokemon Tower here and, um...' _He trailed off, not really sure how to keep going. He didn't want to worry his mother, but he wanted to get it off his chest.

_'Yes?'_

_'I was going to see Mister Fuji, but there were these two members of Team Rocket there, and they told him I abused my pokemon and didn't care about them!' _His signing was becoming more frantic as he felt himself getting worked up and upset over everything again. He was so hot-headed, it was bound to be his downfall one day. _'And he believed them! He's supposed to be a good man!'_

"Red..." She answered slowly, her voice quiet. She was trying to keep it steady for his sake. "There are a lot of people in the world that are bad, intolerant and judgemental. You know that better than anyone, and for fourteen years you've been able to ignore them. Now, these people are awful, and it really hurts me that they used you just because they were angry you defeated their boss. I am very upset, and I know you are too. But try to put it out of your mind, think of all the good and happy things in life. Don't be unhappy, you're a strong person. You can move past this,"

_'Thank you,' _He nodded, the corners of his mouth twitching upwards. Even if she could tell he was lying, she always knew what to say to make him feel better.

It was her time to smile now. "I'm so proud of you,"

_'I'll talk to you soon, mum,'_

"Stay out of trouble," And then he clicked down the red button to hang up, and her face disappeared from the screen. He walked away from the phone, feeling strange. His chest still ached a little, but it was feeling better. But for the first time in the six months he'd been away from Pallet, he felt a little homesick. It wasn't terrible, but he would have liked to be going home to his own room, his own bed, and dinner cooked by his mother (or him if she wanted a break). He closed his eyes and saw his home, and himself when he was seven playing in the front yard with Green. They used to do that every afternoon until it got dark and Green's mother would call him back for dinner. He smiled to himself, it was such an easy time.

He opened his eyes again, finding himself once again in the Pokecentre. His life wasn't bad now, in fact, he had it pretty good. He was getting there as a trainer, and people were starting to recognise who he was. It was just Team Rocket that made him unhappy. So he had to get up and move on from what had happened, it wouldn't do him any good if he just sat and thought bad of the world.

* * *

Red had decided that there was no use being unhappy, and was now strolling down the route that led from Lavender Town to Saffron. He was glad to be leaving that place, he held ill feelings towards it now. Maybe it was haunted like people said? Oh well, he didn't have to go there for a while now. Well, he might not have to go back ever, but he had a feeling that he would eventually.

He felt a drop of water land on his nose (he'd taken his hat off inside the Pokecentre and had forgotten to put it back on), and looked upwards. The sky was ominously grey and sending down more rain onto his face. When had that happened? It had been sunny when he'd left Lavender and there wasn't a cloud in sight, so where had all this come from? Actually, the last time he was walking along this same path it had rained, so maybe it was one of those weird places where the weather was always bad. He'd heard that in a place called Sinnoh, there was this one path where it continually rained and no one had any idea why.

Or it could just be that summer was coming to an end in Kanto.

This time he didn't run though, he just kept walking at the same pace, letting the rain fall down on his face. It felt nice. Charmeleon didn't really think so, and when it felt the first few drops, it grumbled in discontentment. Red chuckled silently at the creature who had crossed it's arms over it's chest. _'Come on,' _He stopped and unzipped his bag, finding it's pokeball. _'This will keep you dry,' _He recalled it and put the ball back inside his bag.

Pikachu didn't seem too keen on the rain either, as it had jumped onto Red's shoulder as he was walking and whined quietly. _'Oh, hush up,' _He chided. _'A little water won't hurt you,'_

They'd been walking for about twenty minues or so through the rain (which was continually getting heavier the further they travelled), when Red felt a little nudge against his back. He ignored it, figuring that he'd just bumped into a tree branch or something. But a few minutes later there was another nudge, larger this time. He stopped and pulled his bag off his back, unzipping it as he did so. Straight away he was able to source the movements, they'd been Squirtle's pokeball. Red smiled into his bag, the poor thing had probably heard the rain and wanted to come out. It was a water type, after all.

He quickly pulled the ball out, fearing that if it opened while it was still in the bag that it would tear said bag and he'd be forced to carry all his things through the rain. Mind you, most of them were getting soaked now anyway, the bag wasn't waterproof. He held it in his palms, watching the ball twitch from side to side. He knew it would open at any moment, even without his command.

It was still a bit of a surprise when it did though. It just sort of cracked open in his hands, a white light flashing briefly before Squirtle appeared on the ground in front of him, grinning sheepishly. _'Well, hey there, buddy,' _Red said. _'You like the rain, hey?' _It nodded, it's smile getting wider.

For a little while, they walked happily along the grass. Red was content in getting soaked, it was nice to let go like this once in a while. Pikachu wasn't so happy about it, still curling up towards him, hissing every so often at the rain. And Squirtle, well, it was in it's element. Upon realising that the creature missed the water, Red felt a little sorry for it. He hadn't taken it to any water the whole time he had it, which was about two months, so it must have been feeling quite dehydrated. It was nice to see it so happy, he hadn't seen it look like this at all. It was always alright with being with him, but he'd never seen it skipping along in joy.

Red was feeling a little like a child again. Whenever it had rained in Pallet Town, he would always rush into his front yard, calling down the street for Green to come and join him. The two of them would spend the whole time it rained playing outside, until they were called back into their houses. Usually his mother would worry about him catching a cold, but he always seemed okay afterwards. Being outside like this brought back happy memories for Red and it was nice that he had a few moments of familiarity when everything around him was so unknown. He loved his travelling so far, but it was nice to be comfortable once in a while.

He stopped in the middle of the grass and looked around for any other people. When he found none (as no one else wanted to be out in such rotten weather), he put his bag down onto the soggy ground and pulled his cap out of it. It was soaking wet and pushed his hair down into his eyes and onto his face, making him shiver slightly, but he didn't mind. He found a tree stump just to the right of him and jumped up onto it, placing his hands on his hips. Pikachu - who had been forced off his shoulder when he took his bag off - was looking at him curiously from the ground with Squirtle. He just grinned in response.

_'And the new champion of the Kanto region is Red!' _He announced, making large exaggerated gestures. He took a little step forward on the stump and raised his arms slightly in the air, a big grin still plastered on his face. _'Red defeated the current champion with his team consisting of Pikachu, Charmeleon, Ivysaur and Squirtle,' _He continued. _'He is the youngest trainer in the history of Kanto to defeat the Elite Four and become the Champion. He's also triumphed in the face of adversity, raising his pokemon using only sign language,' _

He closed his eyes and saw himself standing in a giant arena, his pokemon surrounding him. An announcer was beside him, talking into a microphone. He couldn't see the Champion's face, it was obscured by shadows. It was always like that when he imagined himself winning, he could never quite picture who he'd defeated. He wanted this more than _anything, _and he was going to try his hardest to have even a shot at the Elite Four. He wanted to be the best, but he couldn't see it actually happening.

He opened his eyes again, but kept the picture of the giant arena in his mind still. _'Pikachu, use Thunderbolt! One more hit should do it!' _He fake-commanded. Pikachu didn't quite understand and looked at him, confused. He ushered it to play along, and it finally got the idea. It smiled and hopped up on the stump with him. It pretended to use Thunderbolt, and then cheered when it "hit". _'And we win, Pikachu!' _Red exclaimed. _'We're the best in all of Kanto! Squirtle too, come up here with us,' _It hopped up with them and Red pumped his fist in the air. He knew it wasn't real, but whenever he thought about winning against the Champion, he was excited. He hopped up and down in a dance of sorts, unable to keep still. He just wanted this more than anything!


	22. Saffron City

I'm going to write the CopyCat from Saffron in a coming chapter, and I'm really looking forward to that :) I wanted to do it this chapter, but her house is blocked by the Rockets. Anyway, I also just wanted to write Red doing some everyday tasks, things that he would have to do, but the game neglects because they'd be boring to play. So I hope these are okay!

* * *

**Chapter 22: Reunions**

"It's much nicer to be happy than sad," Green said for Red, and then nodded in agreement. "And if you are upset, you just have to stop for a moment and take in everything around you. Think of everything happy that's ever happened to you, your dreams and the people that love you. It's all made out of goodness, don't ever forget,"

* * *

The only thing that Red didn't enjoy about travelling was the mundane, everyday tasks that he had to do. For example, standing in a laundromat waiting for his clothes to dry was not his favourite thing to do. Not only was it really boring, but he also had a to stand in soaking wet pants and a shirt from the rain because everything else had he to change into was in the dryer. The lady who ran the store had not been too happy that he ws creating a massive puddle on her floor, but he was giving her business, so she couldn't kick him out.

For the first twenty minutes, he'd tried to keep himself entertained by talking to Pikachu. Then he'd sorted out everything in his bag several times over and tied his shoelaces into knots (the actual shoes were in the dryer, so he just had the laces) and then undid them. Pikachu had given up now and was dozing on top of the machine, and Red was stuck watching his washing go round and round inside. He'd stared at it for about ten minutes and had gotten dizzy. He had to look away and close his eyes to stop himself getting a headache.

He'd been there for about and hour when the dryer began to slow down and eventually there was that 'ding' that he had been waiting for _forever_. Red rolled his eyes, _finally! _He had been so bored, and now he could actually go and do something else. He pulled his clothes and shoes out the drier, holding on to them for a moment to savour the warmth. He shoved them into his bag, but left out a shirt and a spare pair of pants. He was still wet and cold and wanted to change straight away. _'Look after my bag, Pikachu,' _He said, before grabbing his things and locating somewhere in which he could change.

* * *

Red pointed to the several sets of keys that were hanging up behind the counter of the Pokecentre, clearly gesturing that he wanted to rent a room. He'd been at it for about five minutes now and the nurse behind the counter had no idea what he wanted. She was giving him desperate looks, simply unable to comprehend _why _he was pointing to the keys. He sighed in frustration, he hadn't encountered this problem for a while now and had almost grown used to it not occurring. It made him feel a bit like an idiot, even though he was just as smart as everyone else.

"I don't understand..." She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. He glanced around the desk for something he could write on. He found a set of pamphlets and pulled one off the stack, he was at his wit's end, how could she not understand?

_I'd like to rent a room, if that's possible? _He wrote, trying to keep a steady hand.

"Oh, yes!" She nodded enthusiastically. "Of course you can!" She took a set of keys off the hook and handed it to him. "It's room 4D, just along the hallway upstairs. Enjoy your stay!" He shoved the keys into his pocket, fairly annoyed at the time it had taken. Every other Pokecentre (besides the one in Pewter!) had managed to understand what he meant, why didn't this one? He frowned, but then decided it didn't matter. He'd gotten a room in the end, and that was the important part.

* * *

He'd first noticed the person in the familiar black uniform a few blocks back. He was a little wary of him because he was still rather sore about the incident in the Pokemon Tower, but he didn't pay much attention to him. It was just one Rocket, and he'd defeated them back in Celadon City. He'd walked about twenty metres, when he noticed another one standing inconspicuously against a store door. There were crowds of people around her, and she was smirking at them. He came to a halt, causing everyone around him to have to slow down and navigate their way around, disgruntled. He looked over to her, trying to work out what she was doing. Unfortunately, she looked at him at the same time, and their eyes locked. She narrowed hers in suspicion, and he just stared.

She didn't appear to be leaving, so he shifted his gaze back towards the direction he had been walking in. Then he noticed the others. They were standing in front of every third building, trapping whoever and whatever was inside, well, inside. Red was confused, what was happening? How could an organisation like this run rampant in a city and no one notice? Did everyone just want to pretend everything was okay, or were they just uninformed about who Team Rocket actually were? He walked a little further upwards, trying to find the gym (which he did when he entered every city, Red was rather determined).

After twenty minutes of circling the city, he came across a large building with the words "Saffron Gym" written across the front. He supposed this was it, but when he went to go for the door, there was a Rocket standing in front of that too. How could they get away with blocking off a public service like this? Surely the gym leader wanted to do something about it, he couldn't be the only one...

"Hey, get lost, kid!" The Rocket sneered. "My company is doing important business in the gym, it's closed to the public for a few weeks," Red didn't believe a word he was saying. But why did they have business in the gym? There wasn't really anything important in there besides the badges. He didn't think that's what they were after though, as there had been no other raids or reports on them in other gyms. He was puzzled, trying to work out just what they were up to.

"Sorry, sir," A voice echoed from behind him, and Red spun around quickly and came face to face with that girl he'd met in Celadon, Mia. When he realised it was her, his face broke into the largest smile, he hadn't realised how much he'd wanted to see her again (and he couldn't figure out why, either). "He doesn't mean to bother you, he just really wants to get into the gym. We'll uh, just be going now," She put her hands on his shoulders and steered him so they were around the side of a building and out of the Rocket's eyesight.

_'What are you doing?' _She switched to sign language in case he could still hear. _'That was Team Rocket! They could kill you!'_

_'I raided their hideout in Celadon and defeated their boss,' _He shrugged modestly. _'I'm not really afraid of them, it's more of a detestment,'_

_'You beat their boss?' _She repeated incredulously, her eyes widening. _'Man, you must be a pretty good trainer if you were able to take him out. I thought he was really powerful,'_

_'He's was pretty tough, but yeah, I beat him. He wasn't as good as most of the gym leaders,'_

Mia chuckled, and Red smiled in response. _'Good job. I didn't realise you were such a strong trainer. Hey, let's go somewhere,' _She grabbed onto his arm, almost as if she was worried he was going to run off. Which of course, Red would never do because he was just so relieved to have run into her again. He'd figured seeing her again was a bit of a long shot, so this was quite exciting. _'Hey, Pikachu,' _She rubbed under Pikachu's chin, making it pur contentedly. Well, at least they got along too.

_'Where are we going?' _He asked as they started down the street. She just smiled and didn't answer. They walked in silence for a little while, as Red was trying to figure out where they were going, and Mia just didn't say anything. He wondered briefly what she was doing in Saffron and came to the conclusion that she was probably was here because of her family's work. They'd been trecking across the city for about twenty minutes, when she suddenly came to a stop.

"Let's stay here, it's nice," She made a sweeping hand gesture towards the park in front of them. It was in the middle of the city, and Red wondered why he hadn't seen it. Surely he'd passed it as he'd been looking for the gym? He recognised some of the buildings across the street. But it was nice nonetheless, there was a large field of grass and a playground towards the edge of it. It was busy, but they found an empty spot of grass and sat down. Pikachu yawned and lay back on the grass, relishing what little sunshine was left. _'So, you detest Team Rocket then?' _She laughed.

_'Well, yeah,' _He said. _'They're not very nice...'_

_'I know, I don't like them either,' _She nodded, a smile playing on her lips. She was so smiley, Red liked it, it made her...different. When she smiled, her whole face smiled, especially her eyes. They were that standard blue, but somehow, she wore them well and they were quite contrasting to Red's dark ones. _'This will sound weird, but why did you say detest? I'm not criticising you, it just seemed like a really strong word,' _Red noticed her recoil slightly, as if she was a little worried that her words might offend him.

_'Because I do detest them,' _He answered slowly. _'Because they abuse and exploit pokemon, which is completely wrong,' _He was speeding up now. Talking about Team Rocket always worked him up, and he'd end up blurting out something that he didn't want to. He thought once again that he had to work on his socialising, he wasn't very good at the whole conversation thing. _'And two of them told Mister Fuji that I was a bad trainer, but in worse terms that I don't want to repeat. It was really upsetting, and now they're in Saffron and I have to do something about it!' _Oh God, he mentally slapped himself, he was so stupid! He hardly even knew this girl, yet was baring his soul to her. It was a wonder she didn't gather up her things and leave then and there.

But Mia didn't, she just frowned and sighed. _'Well, it seems like you have good reason to 'detest' them, you poor thing,'_

_'Sorry about that,' _He rubbed the back of his head nervously. _'I didn't mean to go on about it so much. It's just...I'm, uh...stupid,"_

She shook her head, making her ponytail shake too and almost hit Red in the face. She blushed slightly at this and chuckled nervously. "So, how have you been?" She had switched back to talking so she had a free hand to reach into her bag and pull out a pokeball. Red looked at it curiously, he hadn't realised she owned a pokemon. She opened the ball and released an Eevee. It was like Green's, except a little smaller. He supposed that it was just younger.

_'I didn't know you had an Eevee,' _He remarked, tussling the fur on the creature's head. Pikachu had woken up from it's doze when he heard realised there was another pokemon there. It was eyeing it nervously, wondering how to approach it. _'Go on, buddy. It won't bite,' _Pikachu nodded and then extended it's hand out towards Eevee. The latter put it's paw on top of Pikachu's in a sort of handshake and they smiled at each other.

_'I've had it for a few years now,' _She answered, gazing at the little creature. _'I can't bring myself to evolve it, and it's adorable as it is anyway,' _She tacked on at the end. Well, maybe it wasn't young like he'd thought, perhaps it was just smaller. _'I know I said it last time, but you are very talkative when you get the chance,' _There was the frankness coming through that he had noticed last time, it was one of the things that stood out about her, one of the things he liked best.

_'I hardly get the chance,' _He muttered, not sure what to make of her statement.

_'I know,' _She said. _'And it's nice that you have it now,' _This made Red a little sad, not because of what she'd said, but because it would be weird to tell her that he had missed her. He wanted her to know this, yet he couldn't at the same time. He was silent for a moment, and she looked expectantly at him, awaiting a response.

So he said the first thing that came to his mind. _'Your hair looks nice, Mia,'_

* * *

Red had been feeling a little stupid about his inability to socialise after meeting with Mia today. She'd liked his compliment, but it was just so badly delivered that it embarrassed him. He'd not let it show, but he told himself off when he got back to the Pokecentre. He'd figured he needed to put it behind him and just move forward to the next day, so he'd gone to bed. He was in a deep sleep, dreaming about beating the Champion when a loud, violent crash interrupted him. His eyes shot open and ran to the window to see what had happened. The Pokecentre wasn't very close to the Silph Corporation building, but he could still see the large hole that had just been created in the wall. There were black trucks with giant red Rs on the sides and hundreds of people with matching uniforms swarming in.

He huffed angrily, he wasn't getting anymore sleep tonight.


	23. Silph Co

Guys! Opinions! I was thinking of doing little interlude chapters with something like stories from when Red was a kid. What do you think?

* * *

**Chapter 23: Puzzles**

"Even I couldn't believe that Team Rocket took over the Silph Corporation building," Green laughed. "They're the biggest company in Kanto, and their building is ever bigger! But when they did that, they pretty much had the whole city under control, which would have been a stepping stone to having the whole region. I had not had the same exposure to Team Rocket that Red had, so I went rushing in there like the stupid kid I was, trying to be the hero. I really had no idea what I was doing back then, I just knew I wanted to be the best,"

* * *

Apparently the noise of the Silph Corporation building being broken into had not gone unnoticed by the people of Saffron. A large crowd had gathered around the giant hole in the wall, and the police were attempting to usher everyone away from it, proclaiming that it was dangerous but they had it under control. Red knew that they didn't, as he'd had more experience with Team Rocket than he assumed the police had, and he knew that there was no way the officers would be able to take them all out this quickly. His faith in the police had also gone down in Cerulean when an officer confided in him that "even we have trouble with the Rockets!"

He couldn't just do nothing while the city was controlled by such an organisation, it would be the first step towards their domination of the whole region. He wanted to stay out of trouble for his mum's sake, but he couldn't let bad things happen when he had a chance to stop them. Pikachu was looking a little frightened about the crowd and what was happening, so he scooped the creature up and placed it on his shoulder.

_'It'll be okay, don't worry,' _He whispered, petting the top of it's head. He hitched his bag up onto his back and pushed through the mass of people until he was at the police line that had just been put up. He stepped over the top of it, intending to enter through the _door _(he was civilised, there would be no walking through the hole for him) and have a look around at what was happening. Unfortunately, the police had other ideas.

"Stop, kid!" The loud voice made him jump, and then he froze in fright, concerned that he was going to get arrested or questioned. He couldn't deal with that and from the stress he could feel his hands starting to shake. He took two deep breaths and slowly turned around to face the officer. "It's not safe in there, you can't go in," He stared at the officer, not really sure what to do now. He wasn't going to not go in, but he couldn't really do anything with everyone suddenly watching him. "So, just step away?" He offered, motioning for Red to come and join them on the other side. He hesitated, not sure whether to go and join them and sneak in later, or to just make a run for it. Pretty soon though, his mind was made up for him.

"Let him go, officer," It was that familiar voice that he'd been talking with earlier today, Mia's. She was wearing her pyjamas, they were light blue and the pants had little Bulbasaur faces on them. He thought they were cute and that she looked just as lovely half-asleep. He pushed that out of his mind, a little confused to why he was thinking about it and decided to try and concentrate on the task at hand. He grinned at her, and she smiled back. "His name is Red, he beat Team Rocket singlehandedly in Celadon and forced them out of their warehouse. He could really help if you let him in,"

The officer tilted his head to the side, obviously thinking about it. Red stroked Pikachu's head nervously, waiting for the response, and he glanced over to Mia who had her fingers crossed and was holding them up for him to see. After what felt like _hours_, he came to a conclusion. "Go on, kid,"

_'Thank you,' _He called to her, smiling.

_'Go,' _She nodded in the direction of the building. _'Don't waste any time,' _He picked Pikachu up off his shoulder and placed the creature down onto the ground and then pulled the door of the building open. This was the largest thing he had ever undertaken, and as he took those first few tentative steps inside, he was nervous. If he had thought the people of Kanto were relying on him in the Celadon base, then they certainly were for this. He didn't like the pressure, but he told himself he'd done it once, he could do it again.

As the door shut behind him, there was a curious sound. It started out like a few droplets of rain hitting a tin roof, then gradually got louder until it sounded like a hail storm. Red didn't know what it was, the Silph Corporation building didn't have a tin roof, and it hadn't been raining when he had been outside. He turned around to check it out and saw through the window that the crowd that had gathered around the building were all clapping. But _who _were they applauding? He looked to the sides of him for someone and realised that he was alone. Surely they couldn't be clapping for him? He was just Red, nothing special.

But they were, because every single pair of their eyes were on him. He felt overjoyed, and he had a new sense of confidence. He could take on Team Rocket! They were all looking towards him, and he wanted to do them proud.

* * *

Okay, he was completely lost. This place had so many floors, and apparently Giovanni was on the eleventh. He'd taken the elevator up there, but there was no way to reach him. He'd have to take some obscure route that involved lots of walking up stairs and across floors. And warp pads, don't get him started on those. They looked just like floor tiles, except they had little circles on them. That was the only way to distinguish them from the regular floor. Sometimes he forgot to look out for them and found himself dizzy and somewhere completely different to where he began.

The first time he stepped on one it was by accident, and he was extremely freaked out. He'd put on foot on it, and suddenly everything was spinning and he couldn't see the room anymore. He'd closed his eyes out of fright, hoping that when he opened them he'd be on level ground again. When he did open them, he found himself hurtling towards the ground at a tremendous speed. He flailed a little, expecting to be slammed into the ground harshly. And well, he was. The floor was tile too, so the first few times he was quite sore afterwards. After three times of accidentally stepping on them, he worked out that as you were falling towards the ground, you had to stand straight up, and then when you hit the floor, bend you knees (otherwise it really hurt your knees, Red found out).

He tried to avoid them because they were really _weird_, but sometimes he couldn't and was forced to use one. Who would seriously use them as a form of transportation? He wondered. They had no pattern to them, it was pretty much just touch and go. He supposed that they were maybe installed to try and foil intruders like himself, or at least get them really annoyed and frustrated. He wouldn't be stopping, but he imagined many others would.

Another hinderance were all the Rockets littered across each floor. He was challenged by about five each time he went up a flight of stairs, all of them yelling "I must take you out, kid!" Defeating them was the easy part for Red, none of them were very strong and it came down to just knowing what to expect. Most of them either had a Zubat, Arbok or a Koffing, and he'd worked out a strategy for defeating these. It involved Pikachu using a Thunderbolt on them (twice if they were stronger), thus making the battles quick and easy. Sometimes he would have Charmleon battle, just for a little variation. The only reason he was delayed was by how many there were.

_'Good job, Pikachu,' _He said after they'd beaten a Rocket who was stomping off angrily, cursing his pokeball (Red had to ignore this, otherwise he would get upset). Thinking back, he couldn't believe he'd thought he'd been given the cruddy, back-up pokemon that no one wanted. Pikachu was the best friend he'd ever had, and now he wouldn't have chosen something other than it in a million years. It was strong too. He thought it was because it naturally contained a lot of potential, but he didn't realise it was because how he treated it - because he was a _good _trainer. The difference in being a strong trainer and a good trainer was love and trust (which is why the Rockets were so easy to beat), but Red wasn't very confident in his own abilities.

There was also one other annoying thing in the building, and that was the locked doors. They needed a special card to open them, and unfortunately Red didn't possess this. He'd heard someone muttering to another about how he'd misplaced his and was worried the Boss was going to murder him for it. So Red had to find that, but he had no idea where to begin, there were eleven floors. Right now he was on the 'industrial' floor, and there were boilers and other warehouse type tools all around. It was kind of dangerous, those things got hot.

"Hey!" Well, here comes another battle. "You're that kid that beat everyone in Celadon, aren't you?" He asked, thought it was more of a sneer. Red nodded, thinking that everyone should know how he felt about Team Rocket. "Well, you've been causing us quite a few problems, and I aim to stop them now. I don't know how you went through everyone by yourself, but you won't get through me!" He pulled a pokeball off his belt and released a Zubat. "Use Supersonic!"

_'Pikachu, block your ears and sing over the top of the noise, okay?' _He commanded to Pikachu who had jumped off his shoulder and was standing off against Zubat. It placed it's hands over it's ears and began singing it's name over the top, getting louder. Finally Zubat stopped, and Pikachu unblocked it's ears.

"And you're deaf!" The Rocket exclaimed. "This is just too good!" Red shook his head, trying to indicate that no, he was not deaf. But the Rocket didn't seem to notice and he decided that it didn't matter, he was just one of them.

_'Hey, buddy, use Thunderbolt,' _Little sparks began shooting out of Pikachu's cheeks, and then a fluorescent light projected across the room and hit Zubat, sending it falling to the floor. See? They were really quite easy to defeat. _'Well done,' _He said, bending down and petting the fur on the top of it's head. It smiled, proud of it's win. He was ignoring the fuming grunt opposite him, which probably wasn't helping the situation, as they were all quite angry after they'd lost.

"That wasn't fair!" He stamped his foot down. "You use sign language so I don't know what you're going to do next!" Red just stared at him, he didn't deserve a better response than that. He was one of the rudest Rockets he had had come across so far (besides those ones in Lavender Town). But he was getting angrier now, his hands had curled into fists at his side and his expression read fury. Looking back, Red would have run away at this point, but of course he didn't. "You silent little shit!" He exclaimed. "If I can't beat you with my pokemon, then I'll use force,"

He ran towards Red, and before the latter had a chance to react, shoved him hard against the chest. All the breath was taken out of him, and he gasped for air as he stumbled backwards, tripping over his feet. On the way down to the floor, his arm scraped along the metal grating of the boiler which was next to where they'd battled. His right leg got wedged against the side, but unfortunately it was full of hot steam. He managed to pull it away after a few moments, but the damage was done and all he could feel was burning.

He wanted to scream and cry, he'd never felt this much pain in life, he didn't even know it was possible. It was stinging and throbbing and aching all at the same time, and was spreading down his leg. But he couldn't make any noise, so he just lay there, completely still and silent, for if he moved the pain was worse. This was probably a more frightening sight that if he had been hysterical, but he had to deal with everything else on his own, he could deal with this. You had to admire his self-control though.

He heard the Rocket mutter "Oh, shit," and the run off, leaving him alone with a horrible burning up his leg. He could feel the blood from his scrapes trickling down his arm, and he knew that the pain wasn't going anywhere, no matter how still he lay. And even though his mind was clouded with the hurting and he felt a little nautious, he knew that he had to try and find that card key and get to Giovanni.

Using his arm that wasn't injured, he pushed against the floor, trying to pull himself into a sitting position. The first time he moved, a line of pain shot through him, and surprised him. He stopped, letting it pass. He tried again, and this time managed to get up. He sat there for a moment, letting the shock of initial movement go away. When he deemed himself okay, he placed his hand on the wall and pulled himself up to standing. He had to bite his lip down because of the pain of putting the weight onto his legs, but he had to continue, he couldn't stop. At first his burnt leg buckled, but he grabbed onto the wall to stop himself toppling over. He hated this! He felt so helpless.

* * *

Red limped forward into the next room, stopping every few steps to steady himself as he was dizzy from the pain. He couldn't really concentrate on anything and he knew that he should probably go to a Pokecentre, but the task at hand was much more important. It was for the good of Kanto, not just the good of himself. On another note, he'd found the card key. It had been sitting on a table on the sixth floor and had been easy enough to find, even through his hazy vision.

"Hey, Red!" Oh, God. Green was the last thing he needed right now.

_'Hi, Green,' _He began to sign, but when he lifted his arm, an intense pain shot through it and it completely overwhelmed him. His eyes widened, and then he collapsed onto the ground, unconscious and unable to deal with the hurting for any longer.


	24. Interlude 1

So, most of my regular reviewers said that putting in little stories about Red's childhood was a good idea, so I give you **number one! **I'm going to try and write a few of these, because they're fun and make the story a little more excited (I hope!) Anyway, enjoy!

And nooo, it's not a "life flashing before your eyes" thing, he's not going to die, guys!

Also! It's shorter than all the other chapters, so I apologise. It only is because it's one small event, not a whole portion of the game. I suppose it's like a chapter-ette? :D Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

**Interlude #1**

* * *

**Age 6**

* * *

Red sat on the swing, facing all the other kids in the park that were mostly playing in groups. There were a few that he recognised as children that lived along his street, but no one he was really friends with. He would have waved to them, but they all seemed preoccupied with the games they were playing. He didn't really mind being by himself though. He'd never really liked large groups, he found them too overwhelming and had a hard time keeping up with the speed in which the conversations moved. He supposed that if he was able to input into what was being said, then he'd probably like it more. Nonetheless, he was rather content to sit by himself.

Green had bolted to his house this morning, almost knocking the door down and yelled "Red! Meet me at the park at twelve!" Red had nodded, not really sure why his friend was so enthusiastic. His mother had laughed softly about Green once he had sprinted off and then told her son that he was allowed to go by himself. The park was only a few blocks away from their houses, so it wasn't an unfamiliar place to them.

So that's where he was now, waiting for Green to turn up. He'd been sitting there for about twenty minutes, and was getting a little annoyed. Green had been so insistent for him to be there, yet he was running late. Whatever he had wanted must have not been such a big deal after all. He should have come to expect this by now, because his friend made a huge fuss over everything he did, be it important or not, but it still always frustrated him a little. He was about to get off the swing and just go home, if Green could afford to be late, then he didn't really need to be here.

That was until he heard his name being called loudly from across the other side of the park. "Hey, Red!" He looked up, peering into the distance to try and find Green. "Red! I'm over here!" He spotted him waving his arms around in a frenzy and smiled, he was so enthusiastic. "Come on!" Red got off the swing and made his way across the large patch of grass separating them. Green was grinning as he got closer and ran towards Red.

_'Sorry I'm late!' _Now that they were standing near each other, he was able to switch into sign language. _'Gramps made me feed all the water,' _Red raised an eyebrow at Green's apology, he was still getting the hang of sign language and occasionally would stumble over words, using the wrong gestures. Red, on the other hand, had been using it for two years now and was completely fluent. Whenever Green made a mistake, it was always entertaining for Red, though he tried not to laugh so he wouldn't discourage his friend. _'That's not right, is it?' _He frowned.

_'Water doesn't need feeding,' _Red answered.

"I meant Krabby," He spoke out loud. It was said harshly, but Red knew it was just because he was embarrassed. "The gestures for water and Krabby are similar,"

_'Why did you want me here, Green?' _He asked as politely as possible. He didn't mind being here, but he knew the way he asked sounded like he did. Fortunately, Green didn't seem to notice. He was a little preoccupied with looking around at everyone in the park.

_'I was bored and wanted something to do,' _He responded, turning back towards Red. _'Let's go to the playground, it's too busy on the grass, everyone is playing running around,' _The two boys began to trek towards the colourful play equipment, Green leading and making sure that nobody took the monkeybars. They were his favourite, as Red had learnt one day when they were here. He had been heading towards them when Green broke into a sprint, proclaiming loudly that no one else was to use them before him.

"Hey, Green!" They spun around to find the source of the voice. It came from one of the boys that Red had recognised earlier. His name was Tom and he lived five houses down from him, they had never gotten along very well. Tom liked playfighting (even though he was shorter than all the other children) and tended to pick on Red, just because he couldn't say no.

"Hi, Tom," Green nodded in response. He could tell that Green wanted to keep going because his eyes kept darting towards the monkeybars, making sure that no one had claimed them yet. He tugged on Green's arm to try and get them away from Tom, nodding in the direction of the playground.

"Why don't you come and play with us?" Tom continued, much to Green's (and Red's) disdain. "We're playing the Elite Four," He made a sweeping motion with his arm, showing them all the other kids from the neighbourhood that were pretending to battle on the grass. The Elite Four was a game that a lot of the neighbourhood kids played, it considted of four of them pretending to be members of the Pokemon League, and all the others would pretend to battle them. Sometimes they'd even pretend to be the pokemon battling, imagining they were in a giant stadium filled with excited spectators. Red didn't partake in it often, as he was always stuck being a Caterpie or something like that.

_'No,' _Red insisted, tugging harder on Green's arm.

"Yeah, sure," He answered, taking one last glance at the monkeybars and sighing. "Red and I will come play,"

Tom shook his head. "No, just you,"

"But then Red will be by himself..." He said slowly, thinking over the dynamics of everything in his head. Red blinked a few times, letting what Tom had just said sink in. He'd basically just been told that they didn't want to play with him. That was a harsh blow and he wanted to punch Tom. But he didn't, he just curled his hands into fists and silently huffed.

"Yeah, but we want to play with you,"

"I'm not playing unless Red does," He stamped his foot down. "He's my friend and I'm not leaving him here," Red smiled slightly, at least he had _one _good friend.

"Then you can't play with us," Tom stuck his tongue out. "Red's weird, he doesn't talk and stares all the time," He let go of Green's arm and slid down onto the ground into a crosslegged position. He was really hurt, no one had ever called him weird before, and it wasn't his fault he didn't talk! He sighed, he was beginning to realise that none of these people really liked him and they thought he was a freak. He stared into his lap, trying to block out Tom's rude words. He didn't realise it now, but this marked the beginning of his experience with intolerance and unacceptance. Something he would grow used to in a few years after continually being left out because he wasn't the same as them. No, he had _no _idea what was coming in his future. "Plus, we're all going to fight the Elite Four one day, and we can't let someone who'll never be able to play,"

"He's a nice guy!" Green yelled, as he was now walking back towards his friends on the grass. _'Come on you, get up,' _He reached down and pulled Red into standing. _'I wouldn't abandon you to go play the Elite Seven with them, they're lame,' _He reassured, grinning. His expression changed back into a frown when he realised his mistake. "Er, Elite Four, I mean,"

_'Thanks,' _He mumbled, slowly straightening himself up. He was a little shocked from what had just happened, a little disbelieving too. _'Do you want to go on the monkeybars?' _Green's grin got wider, and he grabbed onto Red's arm, tugging him along as he broke into a run towards the playground.

* * *

_'I had no idea what was going to happen in my future,' _Red laughed silently. _'Especially in two years, that's when everything changed. It's nice how things have turned out now, and I wouldn't trade any of my experiences, even if they were bad. They've made me into the person I am today, and I am quite happy with Red,'_


	25. Silph Co 2

I had no idea how to approach with these last few chapters, so I hope I did alright!

* * *

**Chapter 24: Fights**

"I was in the Silph building because I wanted the gratification and adoration of being a hero to the city. It was all for _my _personal gain. Red was in the Silph building because he hated Team Rocket and knew that if no one did anything then they would take over the city and eventually the region. It caused him injuries but he continued anyway. That was for _everyone _else's gain and had nothing to do with his," Green said. "God, I was such a selfish child," He added on with a slight chuckle.

* * *

The first thing Red noticed when he woke up was that nothing was hurting. That was odd, he'd almost grown used to it despite it being incredibly uncomfortable and well, painful. The second thing he noticed was that he was in a very white and sterile room that smelled too clean. But he was still drowsy from just being asleep, and his mind couldn't comprehend anything so he didn't think to question. Instead he just lay there, relishing the fact that nothing hurt right now.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again, okay?" Green's voice cut through his daze. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his head and then pushed himself up into a sitting position. He looked around and found Green sitting in a chair that had been pulled up close to the bed that he was in.

_'I'm sorry,' _He replied slowly, unsure of what was happening. Where was he and why was he in this bed? _'Where am I?'_

_'The Pokecentre,' _He switched to signing. _'You fainted in the Silph building. I'm guessing it's because of the burn on your leg?'_

_'Oh, fun,' _Now it made sense what this place was and why nothing was hurting. They'd probably given him anaesthetic or something, so when that wore off joyous times would ensue. Pikachu was sitting on the end of his bed, and now that he was awake, had perked up and was smiling. He imagined that the poor creature would have been worried sick about him. _'I'm okay, Pikachu,' _He mumbled, reaching over to pat it's head. As he extended him arm, he noticed that it was bandaged up to his elbow, making it appear worse than it probably was.

Green nodded. _'So, want to tell me what happened? The nurses need to know and I can't tell them anything without knowing myself,'_

He paused, trying to recall what had actually occurred. It must have been a fair few hours ago now and his memory of it was a little blurry. _'I was battling a Rocket, and I think he got angry and pushed my against a boiler,' _It was all coming back to him now, the seering pain, that feeling of utter helplessness. It wasn't pleasant.

"Shit," He mumbled and was cast a few disapproving stares from other patients in the room (this was the first time Red had noticed them for some reason). His cheeks flushed pink and he switched back to signing. When something was surprising, Green would revert to talking normally by instinct. This would usually make Red laugh a little because what he often said when surprised was a swear word which would get him in trouble from whoever else was there with them. _'I don't know how you do it, but you always manage to get yourself into such trouble,'_

_'I know,' _He replied, downcasting his eyes. Usually this would have added fuel to the fire of their rivalry, but Red wasn't really up for an argument, and his mind kept drifting to Raticate. _'But this time it's justified, I was trying to help,'_

_'You're an...' _He began, and then trailed off. His eyes showed that he was trying to grasp the right words to use. _'You're an awfully...good person,' _Red smiled, that would have been hard for Green to say because he didn't like complimenting people without comparing them to him. And there was no way that Green would have been able to say that at the beginning of their travels six months ago. Had he changed over the time? He certainly sounded more mature, Red thought.

_'Green, I'm sorry about Raticate,' _He said quickly, almost fearing his reaction. He'd been meaning to say it as soon as he saw him next, but these particular circumstances had prevented this. It was also a complete change of subject, but he'd just remembered it and worried he'd forget if he didn't say it now.

_'It's okay,' _He frowned, and Red was able to tell that he was still grieving, and probably would be for quite a while now. That was to be expected though, he'd lost one of his best friends. He didn't even want to imagine how he'd cope if anything ever happened to Pikachu - or any of his pokemon for that matter. _'How did you know about that? I never told you,'_

_'I saw the headstone. I'm uh, really sorry for killing it,' _All the pent-up guilt he'd felt and tried to ignore was now spilling out, and he couldn't stop it. He felt like an idiot for blubbering so much, but he just couldn't help it. Sometimes he wondered if his words had a mind of their own. _'Seriously, it's my fault. Pikachu used such a large Thunderbolt and I didn't mean for it to. I really didn't want to cause so much damage, I'm so sorry,'_

_'Red,' _Green placed his hand on Red's shoulder and looked him squarely in the eyes. _'It's okay,'_

He had never really experienced how intense Green's gaze could be when he was serious about something. He knew that he often stared, but he'd never been _stared at_ like this before. It was a little unnerving. _'Is Team Rocket gone?' _He asked hopefully, trying to change the topic away from something so depressing. Green took his hand off his shoulder and shook his head slowly.

_'No, they're still inside the Silph building,' _He remarked, pointing to the giant skyscraper visible out the window.

_'Then I'm going to stop them,' _He said decisively, pulling the sheets away from him and swinging his legs over the side. There was a tiny shoot of pain, but he ignored it. This was still more important than his well-being. Pikachu jumped up from it's spot on the bed and joined Red at his feet.

_'No, you can't,' _Green stood up, blocking his exit. _'You collapsed the first time, and it's only been a few hours since then. What makes you think you'll be okay the second time?'_

He knew that Green was being reasonable and probably had his best interests at heart, but Red was stubborn, and would go and do what he thought was best. _'If I stay here for days, then the whole city might fall under Team Rocket's control. If I can do something to stop that, then I probably should. This is for everyone, not just myself,'_

_'Red, listen to me,' _He was unmoving and stared down at his rival. _'You have a second or third degree burn on your leg, and about ten million scrapes up your arm that made you collapse from the pain. You have to rest before you do anything, otherwise when the painkillers wear off you'll hurt more than you can imagine,'_

_'Second or third degree?' _He repeated, running his fingers softly over where the burn was. His pants were covering it, but he could feel the bandage. _'Won't I have a massive scar from that?'_

_'Yes, you will. It'll probably be worse if you leave now,' _Green sighed, running his hands through his hair.

_'I'm not staying here,' _He said, waving off his comment about his injuries. Green didn't understand how _bad _Team Rocket were, and that they had to be gone as soon as possible. He pushed past him and stormed out the door.

"It's your own fault if you hurt yourself more!" He heard him call before he ran out the doors of the Pokecentre. The two of them never meant to fight, it just sort of happened. They were both so stubborn, and that often put them at odds. Red didn't like it, he wanted to be friends with Green like when they were children, but their pride always got in the way.

* * *

Red had remembered the steps he'd taken when he found Green last time, and just re-traced them, figuring that he wasn't very far from Giovanni now. Standing just around the corner from where his rival orignally was, Red found a frightened employee of the Silph Corporation. He was sitting at a table, shaking nervously. He looked up in fright when he heard Red's footsteps, but when he realised that he wasn't a member of Team Rocket, his face had relaxed into an expression of utter relief.

"You're the guy that's trying to save us, aren't you?" He asked. When Red nodded, a large smile appeared on his face. "We all really appreciate everything you're doing, we've been so scared about ourselves and the future of the company. So, thank you,"

_'It's no problem,' _He replied, and then mentally cursed himself. He'd just been in the rhythm of signing because of talking to Green, so it was an automatic response. The man just smiled again at him, seemingly not bothered by him not talking. Well, that was a nice change.

"I heard about what you did in Celadon too. It's really brave, taking on a whole organisation by yourself and winning too. It's really quite something," He had a bag by his feet, and he leant down and fished around in it, grabbing something out. It was a really shiny pokeball. "I want you to have this," He placed it in Red's hands. "There's a Lapras inside. We usually keep it here, but it will do a lot better if you take it. I think you'll train it well, as it's very intelligent and will give you rides if you ever need transportation across water,'

He unzipped his bag and placed it inside. _'Thank you,' _He looked around, the only other path to get somewhere else in this room was a warp pad. He liked avoiding those as much as possible, but sometimes he had to use them. Reluctantly, he stepped onto it and found himself falling through the air in another room. He landed with a thud, and suddenly his leg began to sting. It only happened for a moment, but it made his eyes water.

* * *

"Ah, Red, we meet again," After than final warp pad, finding Giovanni had been simple. He'd landed on the right floor and had to walk for a bout a minute until the 'Boss' came into view. The President of the Silph Corporation was also there, looking frightened. His eyes widened when he entered the room, probably assuming that he was just another Rocket grunt. "The President and I were just discussing a vital business proposition, weren't we?" Giovanni glanced at the other man, urging him to play along.

"Uh, yes!" He stuttered. "We won't be a moment! You can just have a seat if you want,"

"No, he can't," Giovanni continued, smirking at Red. "He's just a kid, and he needs to learn to keep his nose out of grown-up matters. So Red, I'd like you to leave now,"

_Okay, Red. Keep your cool, don't let him get to you, he's doing this on purpose. _

He stepped towards him, leaning in close and lowering his voice. "I didn't think I'd run into you again," He said. "But I suppose it was inevitable. You seem to have a strong sense of justice, which is unfortunate. You have the capability to become a great leader like me, but you chose good. That's a shame, good never gets you anywhere in life. I suppose it's your mother's fault. She would have raised you to look out for others,"

Red was furious, how dare he say that about his mother? She had raised him the best she could without him having a father, and she was the nicest person he'd ever known! So he had no right to say that about her. He had to keep himself calm though, otherwise he'd not be able to talk to his pokemon when they battled, so he'd lose and everything he'd done would have been wasted.

"You're fourteen and already so strong-willed," He said, his smirk getting wider. Red couldn't help but gape now, how did he know so much? Had he had someone scouting around and finding out information about him? "You remind me a lot of what I was like when I was younger," That was the final straw for him, he was utterly disgusted that he was being compared to the leader of the organisation he detested so much. Pikachu sensed this and stepped in front of Red, ready for a battle. "And now you want to fight me? Very well,"

_'Pikachu, I don't want you to battle right now,' _He picked up the little mouse and placed it on his shoulder before reaching into his bag and pulling out Squirtle's pokeball. Giovanni picked up one of his pokeballs from the table and released a Nidoqueen. Red noted this as a new addition to his team, as he hadn't had it in Celadon.

"Don't battle in my office!" The President interrupted, looking around in concern for all his furniture. Now that he thought of it, Red realised that this probably wasn't the best place to fight, Squirtle would probably get water everywhere.

"This is Team Rocket's office now, so we'll battle wherever we want!" Giovanni roared, making the other man cower in fear in his chair. The volume of his voice shocked Red, making him jump slightly in his spot. There wasn't any reason for him to be yell so angry, the President hadn't done anything. If anything, Giovanni should be angry at him. But he was the boss of Team Rocket, he had to be unpleasant in one way or another. "Nidoqueen, use Body Slam!"

He watched the giant creature charge towards them. He had to wait for the right moment to strike, otherwise his strategy wouldn't work and he'd have to reconsider the whole battle. Squirtle, on the other hand, was freaking out (it didn't want to be crushed) and began to move to take a dive behind Red's legs for protection. But Red wouldn't have any of that. _'Don't move ye...' _His leg buckled and he stumbled forward a moment. He gasped from the sudden pain. It was starting to come back slowly, and right now was just a dull throb. But now his plan wasn't on time and he had to try and get it back on track. _'Squirtle, go now!' _He yelled, Nidoqueen was just about to jump and land on the creature. It ducked out the way and Nidoqueen just bellyflopped onto the ground instead. _'Now, while it's down, jump onto it's back and into the air and use Water Pulse,' _If Squirtle did it from that angle, it would hit Nidoqueen in the face and have maximum effectiveness.

It hit Nidoqueen with full force, and it took Nidoqueen a few minutes to recover and stand up again. Squirtle was unscathed and stood facing it's opponent with a determined look on it's face. Red had never seen it attack so powerfully before, and he wondered if the rain had made it stronger or at least in a happier mood.

"Get up and use Double Kick," Giovanni commanded, scolding his pokemon missing Red's. He hadn't really noticed it before, but Giovanni's battling was pretty much what Team Rocket were preached. Exploit and use of pokemon to get what they wanted. It really disturbed Red, he didn't find it ethical. What worried him more though was how the pain in his leg was now really the only thing he could concentrate on. It was throbbing and stinging at the same time and he had to constantly jump from foot to foot so he didn't put so much weight onto it. Maybe Green was right, it probably wouldn't have been a _bad _idea to at least have a little rest.

_'Dodge and use Water Pulse again,' _He said. _'You can do it!' _Squirtle began to fight back, but this time it was the one to get hurt. It was thrown across the room by the force of Nidoqueen's kick and landed with a thud near Red's feet. He bent over and helped the creature back onto it's feet. It swayed slightly, but managed to gain it's balance back after a moment.

* * *

_'Pikachu, Thunder,' _Persian was just about to faint, he could tell. But on the other hand, so was he. About halfway through the battle, he'd been unable to stand by himself anymore and had to lean against the wall. He was in so much pain, he had to concentrate on breathing deeply to try and take his mind off it.

Pikachu's cheeks began to spark, and suddenly a large bolt of electricity hit Persian on the other side of the room. It gasped from the sudden shock and then collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. Giovanni growled in frustration and recalled it into it's ball. "I lost again?" He snarled. "How are you so strong? We're Team Rocket, pokemon exist for us to _exploit! _How did you manage to take us out using our tools?" He sighed. "But we will never fall, I guarantee that," He was backing out of the room now, pointing at Red. "And I'll return, Red. This is not the last you've heard of me,"

Squirtle had been watching from the sidelines since the first battle, and suddenly it cried out in surprise. Red looked towards it and found an eerie white light beginning to glow around it's shell. A small smile made it's way onto his face, this was just like last time! Slowly the whole light took over it's body, changing into another shape. When the light began to fade away, a slightly bigger creature stood where Squirtle had been. It was Wartortle.

"Well done!" The President exclaimed, clapping his hands in delight. "Thank you for saving my company! I was so frightened we were going so be taken over by those awful Rockets!" He breathed a sigh of relief. "People said I was old-fashioned and dreaming, but I've always thought the city needed a hero, someone who would save us all in our times of peril. And now it appears we have one,"

Red couldn't take the hurting in his leg for much longer, he had to sit down. There was a chair opposite the President and he made his way over to it, hoping that it wasn't too rude to take a seat without being invited. He took it anyway, but it didn't do much justice. There was a little less stinging, but the throb was still there. He made a note to go stay in the Pokecentre for a few days after this since there was no rush anymore. He wondered if Green would still be there, but he thought it wasn't likely as he'd basically just stormed out on him before.

"But since you've given my company a future," He continued. "I'd like to give you this as a gift," He pushed a purple pokeball across the desk for Red. He eyes it curiously, he'd never seen one like this before and it was a little fascinating. "That's called the Master Ball, it's what Team Rocket were trying to steal. It catches any pokemon without fail, but it's a prototype so you should keep low when you want to use it,"

Red spotted a piece of paper on the desk and pulled it over to him. He fished a pen out his bag and began to write. _'Thank you,' _He would have been a lot more excited about defeating the organisation he hated and receiving the world's best pokeball if his leg wasn't in such agony. He didn't even know how he was writing, all he could concentrate on was the burn. It was strange, he hadn't even seen his injuries yet.

"You deserve it, you've just saved the city,"

_'Do you mind if I just sit here for a while? I'm a little tired after everything I just did,' _He was tired, that wasn't a lie, but he just wanted to sit down because he couldn't really get back up. Well, he could, but he'd be in a whole lot of pain. He'd brave the walking when the throbbing went away a little. Red felt stupid, he should have listened to Green and waited for at least a couple of hours, _anything _would have made a difference to how he was feeling now.

"Go ahead," He stood up. "I have to go to a meeting on a lower floor, but you're welcome to stay here as long as you need," Red nodded, smiling in appreciation. He watched the President exit his office and then placed his head on the desk, breathing deeply over and over. It wouldn't last forever and he'd be okay eventually, he just had to keep telling himself that.


	26. Saffron City 2

Back in one of the Pewter City chapters, I wrote that Red had a Nidoran. For the sake of continuity, let's just say that he released it back into the wild because it missed it's family :D

Also, sorry this chapter is different! I had no idea how to approach it without it being really mundane.

* * *

**Chapter 25: Psychic**

Red was sitting with Green, glancing at him nervously as he spoke. _'It was stupid of me to rush out of the Pokecentre straight away. I was in so much pain afterwards, it was horrible. I actually thought I might die,'_

"Finally you admit it!" The other boy exclaimed, his eyes widening. "I did that for your own good, and I was right! I told you!"

* * *

Sabrina had been sitting in down in a chair against the wall of her gym, absolutely bored out of her mind when she saw him walk in. There had been no even remotely entertaining battles for a few days now, and she was starting to lose faith in the people in Saffron as decent trainers. The boy's entrance sparked her interest (she knew he was a good trainer), and she recognised him straight away. He was that one who had managed to defeat and drive that evil organisation, Team Rocket she believed they were called, out of the Silph building. She would have helped, but her gym had been locked by them and she wasn't able to get out.

She had seen the story about this boy on the news a few nights ago, but had no idea what his name was. He'd refused any interviews with anyone, and she briefly had wondered if it was because he thought he was above that. His presence in her gym now though didn't lead her to believe that was the case, because he didn't appear to be very confident at all. In fact, he looked shy and nervous, and didn't seem to have a lot of faith in his abilities. She'd expected his arrival, figuring that someone strong enough to bring down an entire organisation singlehandedly would probably be a trainer and after a badge. Actually, she knew he would come. The other night she saw a flash of his face and then her gym, she just didn't know when it would happen.

She didn't have a lot of confidence in herself about their impending battle at the moment either. Being a psychic made her more in tune with her feelings and of those around her. Right now she was feeling quite negative, she knew he was strong and probably stood a good chance of winning. If he did defeat her, she would have to hand out her second Marsh Badge that week, and that wouldn't look good on her official gym report.

The first badge had been given to a boy around the same age as this one that had just entered her gym. His name was Green and they'd had a tough battle, but he'd always had the upper hand with quite a few moves. Sabrina was disappointed by the loss, but figured that his power had come from his anger. He'd stormed into the gym, muttering to himself about some guy named Red and how ungrateful he was. He'd looked up at her, and she had seen a flash of red across her vision. That quickly changed into a scene in a Pokecentre where Green was having a fight with someone important to him. Their face was obscured, but she could feel his frustration. This had come through in his battling and he'd walked away with the Marsh Badge.

Sabrina was used to all these 'visions', or mental background noise, as she calls it. Usually people's voices come through with them, mumbling not-quite-coherant phrases. Sometimes she could understand what they said, other times she had to just rely on what she saw. Most of the time she paid no attention to it though, drowning them out with her own thoughts. Green, however, had stood out to her and she hadn't been able to forget him. There were some unanswered questions as to why he was so annoyed, and she wanted to know. Sabrina was curious by nature, but had resigned herself to the fact that she'd probably never run into Green again.

"Hello there," She said. He'd crossed the room and was now standing in front of her, not saying a word. He looked up at her (as she was a fair bit taller) when she spoke, and she was startled by his eyes. They were so...expressive. It seemed that everything he'd ever experienced was visible in them, and searching. They were always searching for something that she didn't understand. They were full of sadness, yet joy and excitement at the same time, almost as if he was trying to _communicate _with them. She'd never come across someone like him before. "I'm Sabrina, what's your name?"

He didn't answer, but she saw a flash of red. It wasn't like the red she'd seen with Green, that had been an angry, violent red. This was simply his name. "It's Red, right?" She asked and he nodded, looking quite confused. "I have psychic powers," She explained. He quickly touched his temple, and she saw that he was worried. "I can't exactly 'read your thoughts', per se, but I can see briefly what you're thinking about. Usually there's a voice or something to go with it, but you're completely silent,"

Red shrugged his shoulders, but didn't seem at all fazed. She saw from him a tall man dressed like a doctor and a woman with suspiciously similar features to him, whom she assumed was his mother. The doctor was telling her something, and Sabrina had to listen closely to hear it. "Your child is mute," And then it ended and she couldn't see anything anymore. But it all suddenly made sense, he didn't talk! That's why he wouldn't have any interviews with anyone, _and _he was the kid that Green had been so angry about. Though she couldn't figure out why in that case.

"I see why now," She mumbled. He seemed a little uneasy because of her, but she didn't mind. She wondered if this was one of the first times he was able to communicate with someone properly. There was suddenly another flash of colour, and it merged into her gym. Red was standing on one end and she was on the other. The Pikachu which was sitting on his shoulder presently was battling her Abra, and she knew what he wanted. "I dislike fighting, but we can battle if you wish,"

* * *

Well, the battle had been rather one-sided. Sabrina couldn't believe how he'd managed to take out her Abra, Kadabra _and _Alakazam with no more than a few hits. His Pikachu was the strongest, she'd never met a pokemon quite like it before. She'd learnt it didn't like being inside a pokeball and instead just travelled outside with Red wherever they went. She figured that this was the key to it's power because it was so dearly loved by it's trainer. She was a little disheartened that she lost, but she thought that Red deserved it. During their battle, she'd seen a few more scenes from his past, and most of them centered around being yelled at for not speaking, so she was actually more than happy to hand him a Marsh Badge.

"A loss is a loss, and I'll admit that I didn't work hard enough to win," That was a lie. She'd tried her hardest because she hadn't had a good battle in days, but she didn't want to seem like she was actually weak. "You've earned the Marsh Badge," She reached into her pocket and pulled out the small gold circle. He took it out her hand and stared down at it in awe. He seemed _genuinely _pleased to be receiving it, and it made her smile. Never before had she met someone so appreciative. He nodded at her, thanking her for the battle and then picked his bag up from the floor and left the building. It was all over just like that.

She sat down back in her chair, thinking about what had just happened. Red was remarkably skilled, that was plain to see. He would go far, and she thought he may even have a shot at the Elite Four. But that wasn't the most fascinating part about the boy, it was that he used sign language. She still couldn't believe it. When he'd commanded Charmeleon to use Flamethrower using gestures, she'd almost fainted from surprise. She didn't know that pokemon were able to understand it, let alone learn how to _battle _like that.

She closed her eyes to rest for a moment, when she saw a flash of gold. This soon merged into a scene somewhat like how she'd first predicted Red to come. A young boy of about fourteen was walking into her gym, he had on a black and yellow cap which was turned backwards, and he was proclaiming very loudly that he wanted a battle. He was confident, yet something about him reminded her of the silent boy she had just battled. She didn't know who he was, but she knew that one day she'd encounter him.

* * *

Red had gone into the gym feeling quite nervous. It was the first time he'd been out properly in a few days, and he was worried he was going to faint again. His leg had been hurting a little during the battle, but it was no where near as bad as it was in the Silph building a few days ago. He hated the way it looked, it was so red and obvious. He knew he'd have permanent scarring from it, and he didn't like that. He felt stupid whenever he thought about it, if he'd just been more careful that whole incident would have been avoided.

But it was over now, and he'd won.

He began to walk down the pathway back into the city, glancing around at all the buildings. He smiled to himself, there were no Rockets blocking off doorways anymore, the city was free again. He stopped for a moment to readjust his bag, the straps had been falling off his shoulders. He pulled them back up and then looked around, he was standing outside a small house. It was two storey, but looked like every other house in the city. It was a little weird how they all looked the same, and he couldn't imagine living in such an unoriginal place even though the city _was _nice.

He glanced upwards and for a moment he locked eyes with a face that was staring at him out the window. It was a girl around his age and she was watching him. Their eyes locked and she smiled. That was a little weird and Red looked down, hoping that she'd stop looking at him. He paused for a moment, giving her time, and then allowed himself to glance back up again. She was still there, except now she was weaing the same hat as him, and her hair was toussled to resemble his. He raised an eyebrow at her, and then her face disappeared from the window.

Red was about to dismiss it and continue on his way, maybe she just wanted to show him that they had the same hat? He'd taken two steps when the door to her house was pushed open and she ran forward to meet him. Except she was not dressed as a she, she was dressed like him. If it weren't for their different coloured hair and eyes, you would assume that they were related. Red was a little freaked out, he didn't know what was going on with this girl. Why was she dressed like him?

"Hey, do you like pokemon?" She asked, mimicking a boy's voice. It was a little convincing too. He nodded his head, but she didn't seem satisfied with this answer and frowned. "That's usually what trainers ask first, why didn't you?"

For some reason, this really entertained Red and he began to laugh. It wasn't even that funny, but when Red started laughing, everything just became amusing and he ended up doubled over most of the time. He didn't want that to happen this time though, he always found it a bit embarrassing if he wasn't around someone he knew fairly well. He stifled his laughter and wiped his eyes, attempting to compose himself. When he was able to look at her without grinning, he could bring himself to answer. So he gestured to his throat and shook his head.

"You're strange," She smiled, obviously commenting on his laughing. That wasn't fair to say though, he thought, pouting a little. She was the one dressing up like him and trying to imitate a boy's voice! "But that's good, because ordinary people are boring. I'm the Copycat," She stuck out her hand and Red shook it warily. "People call me that because I like to mimic others. It's really fun, their reactions are so funny! I also like pokedolls," She'd switched back to her normal speaking voice now and the first thing he noticed about it was that she said things really fast. She reminded him of someone, he could quite remember who it was though. "I have a huge collection in my room, they're so adorable. I like the pink ones the best, because pink is the cutest colour!"

As she rambled on about it, Red remembered that in Celadon, he'd been in the Game Corner and had won a Clefairy doll on the claw machine. It was still in his bag too, but he hoped that it hadn't got soaked that time he'd walked through the rain. He pulled his bag off his back and unzipped it, fishing around for the doll. He touched something soft and pulled it out. It was the Clefairy, and it was still in good condition. He held it out for her, and her eyes lit up.

"For me?" He nodded, and she grinned. "Thank you! Oh..." She searched around in her (which looked like Red's) bag, and pulled out a TM. "This is Mimic, it's my favourite, in case you hadn't assumed. It's for you," They switched items, both looking rather appreciative. She shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other, not really sure what to do now. "Um, I'd better be going. It's been nice to meet you..." She trailed off, not knowing his name. He chuckled silently, watching her walk back into her house. He knew who she reminded him of now. It was that kid he'd met on the S.S Anne, Gold.


	27. Interlude 2

I hope you guys don't mind, but I'd like to dedicate this chapter to two people.  
Number one is my good friend _The Creador. _He's been such a faithful reviewer, and I really appreciate everything. If it weren't for his encouragement, this story probably wouldn't be where it is now.  
Number two is _x0SilverFeathers0x_. She started reviewing today, and I want to thank her for all the lovely feedback :) I hope she doesn't mind me mentioning her!  
And of course all my regular reviewers! You guys are the best and I really appreciate your feedback! I hope you enjoy!

Also, these interlude chapters are so short, I don't like it :| But there will be some proper, _better _writing soon!

* * *

**Age 8**

* * *

"Dad, could you please look after him just for the day? It wouldn't be good for him to stay home right now," Green's mother sighed, nudging her son into Professor Oak's laboratory. She knew her father didn't really like children playing around with all his research and she usually wouldn't ask him to babysit, but today was an exception. Her husband had just walked out on her, she needed a bit of support here!

"Of course, sweetheart," Oak replied, taking Green's arm and leading him into the building with him. Green looking up at his Grandfather and pouted, he didn't want to be here. "I know it's tough today, but I'm always here if you need my help,"

She nodded, frowning. "Look after Green, he's upset and quite confused and needs a bit of stability right now," She leant down and kissed him on the forehead. "I'll see you this evening, baby,"

Green watched her walk away from the door, back towards their house down the street. Seeing her go made him want to cry, it was the second time today someone important had walked away from him. He'd not seen him for less than a day, but already he missed him unbearably. He usually went away for weeks on end on business trips, and every time it was sad for the young boy, but he took solace in the fact that he would be back soon. This time he wouldn't be returning, and Green was having a hard time grasping that fact.

His father had been his idol, so when he woke up this morning and found his mother with her head in her hands, crying at the kitchen table, and Daisy staring out the window, he was heartbroken. He had felt this sinking feeling in his chest that had progressed to a slight ache, but no matter how deeply he breathed, it wouldn't go away. He'd gotten used to the feeling eventually, but it still hurt. Everyone thought that he wasn't old enough to understand, but they were wrong. He knew exactly what had happened, but he just couldn't work out why.

"Come on in, Green," Oak took his hand and walked with him into the lab. He stopped when they got to the lounge room (why there was a lounge room in a research laboratory was anyone's guess), and Green took a seat on the couch. "I'll just be in my office if you need anything," His Grandfather walked away, and Green noted that he was the third person to walk away from him.

He slumped down from the couch onto the floor because he spotted a ball lying next to the coffee table. He picked it up and began pushing it against the wall and catching it as it rolled back. This little piece of repetition was somewhat comforting, because concentrating on trying to catch it let him somewhat get his mind off what had happened to his family this morning. The thoughts kept creeping back though, and he frowned. He was very glum and missed his dad. He'd only been back a week from one of his business trips (he worked in Celadon, developing the buildings and structures around the city) and had promised Green that he would spend the whole weekend with him doing things he liked. He had been really looking forward to that...

His whole family had been abandoned by him, and he wanted to burst into tears. He knew his mum didn't have a job and that things around his home would have to be cut back on a fair bit. He felt like he was going to burst into tears. Why had his mum brought him here? He just wanted to be by himself.

_'Hi, Green,' _Red's cheery face poked round the doorway. Well now, what had he saying about wanting to be alone? Red was exactly what he _didn't _need right now. What mainly annoyed him though was the huge smile on his friend's face. Why was Red allowed to be so happy when he couldn't be? He didn't see the fairness in it. Red was so darn fortunate too. _He _still had a parent who loved him. Today, the whole world was Green's enemy.

_'Hey,' _The good thing about sign language was that when Green didn't trust his voice, he could switch to it.

Red walked into the room, taking a seat on te armrest of the couch. _'My mum is talking to the Professor, and then she's going to see your mum,' _He said. _'How are you?'_

_'I'm okay,' _Couldn't he see he didn't want to talk?

Red hesitated, showing that well, yes, he did notice he didn't feel like talking. Or that he wasn't sure how to treat Green because of what had happened. The latter annoyed him, why should he be treated any differently? There was nothing wrong with just because his dad had run away! There was no need to tiptoe around the subject or keep secrets. _'Well, uh, you're like me now,'_

And that was when Green snapped.

"How am I like you?" He yelped. "Just because we both don't have dads now? Well, I _had _one for eight years, and he loved me!" He had jumped up from his spot on the floor and was pacing around the room. "But you!" He pointed his index finger squarely at Red. "You've never even met yours!" His voice had escalated and he yelled the last thing at the top of his lungs. Red however, hadn't flinched at all and was just staring at his friend as he stomped around the room.

All Green's sadness, anger and frustration that had built up over the course of the morning had now exploded, and unfortunately it had been Red that had copped it. Green curled his hands into fists and ran towards him, fully intending to fight him. Red had quick reflexes (which annoyed the other), and jumped out the way quickly. Green tried to charge again, wanting to take out his rage. He was just so angry at Red, how could he say such a thing?

There were some footstep sounds, and both boys looked up to find the Professor and Red's mother standing in the doorway. Their presence didn't deter Green though, and he continued to try and punch his friend, screaming all the profanities and harsh words that his young mind could come up with. He hated this feeling of anger and he hated himself for doing it, but he just couldn't stop himself. He _needed _it! Red had run to his mother's side, and Oak had grabbed onto Green's shoulders and was holding him back from ripping Red's hair out.

"You're an idiot!" He screamed. "I hate you so much! I don't ever want to see you again!" He tried to pull himself out of his Grandfather's iron grip on his shoulders, but was unsuccessful. So he just continued to struggle, punching the air in hoping that he'd hit Red (or just anything). Even though he was blinded by rage, deep down inside of himself some little voice was telling him he wasn't angry at Red, but that he was angry at his father. But he wasn't able to stop himself, he just had to get everything out, and it was Red that had to deal with it. "Just fuck off!" He wasn't sure what the word meant, but he'd heard someone at the park say it, and he was able to tell from the context that it wasn't nice.

Then there was silence, and Green knew he had gone too far, but he couldn't stop. He was crying now, sobbing and cursing Red at the same time. He was the only noise in the whole building, and it was a little unnerving.

Slowly, his Grandfather began to speak, trying to be heard over his screaming. "I'm sorry about him, he's never usually like this,"

"I know," Red's mother said. "I don't blame him either, he's had to go through a lot today. We'll come back when he's feeling a bit better," Green watched them leave the laboratory, and even through his tear-clouded vision and hazy mind, he counted that they were the fourth and fifth people to walk away from him today. This fact upset him more than Red had, and his crying turned from anger to sadness. He stopped screaming and turned to bury his face into his Grandfather's shirt, letting the familiarity of him comfort him. If he didn't have the stability of his family right now, he at least had this.

And that signified the end of Green and Red's friendship.

* * *

"I didn't hate Red, I was just taking out all my issues on him because he was, well...there," Green shrugged. "For once I wanted it to be about _Green, _not about Red and what was happening to him. Sometimes I felt a little left out. But I was stupid assuming that he was fortunate. I had _no _idea what crap he got for not speaking and how his family weren't as well off as mine. I was just a dumb kid, and sometimes I wish our friendship hadn't ended up where it did. Mind you, things are a lot better now,"


	28. Route 16

Aw, this chapter was shorter than what I thought it was :( Oh well, it's not _that _short anyway.

Also, sorry for a bit of a delay! School started back on Tuesday and I have had heaps of homework (exams are coming up, yaaaay) and have just been too tired to write anything decent. So here we go, I hope you guys enjoy :D

* * *

**Chapter 26: Sleep**_  
_

_'So many people have asked me 'if there's no reason why you can't talk, why don't you then?',' _Red said. _'And I'm never really able to describe it properly. I've just never felt the need to communicate like that, because once you do, it opens you up to criticism. Plus, I'm able to just observe everything without having to worry what people will think about what I say. It really makes you appreciate all the good things about the world, and also makes you a better person. You don't have to worry about what to say, you can just be. And I suppose that's just the basis of it,'_

* * *

Red took a sip of his milkshake and then pushed the glass away. He'd finished about half, but couldn't drink anymore. It wasn't that he didn't want to, because he did. Vanilla milkshakes were one of his favourite drinks, but he just wasn't hungry. He'd been eating a little less than he did when he was at home, and he figured it was because no where he went could get food as right as his mother could. If there was something he missed about being home, it was the food (and his bed).

He was also feeling a bit off since arriving in Celadon. It was that same sort of feeling he'd felt after he'd defeated Giovanni for the first time here. That emptiness that was present because Mia wasn't around the city. He knew that this place was forever tainted if she wasn't here, and that he'd never really enjoy himself if he was alone. He tried to ignore the feeling, but it was making him uneasy and the milkshake wasn't helping that at all. He sighed silently and petted Pikachu's head. The little creature was sitting next to him, eyeing off the drink.

_'Pokemon can't have milkshakes, buddy,' _He said. _'It's not good for you guys,' _It seemed to pout, but underneath the disappointment, he knew that it understood.

Red had arrived in Celadon City about half an hour earlier, and had headed straight for this cafe in which he was sitting now. He hadn't been here before, but he felt hungry (then) and needed to sit down after two hours of walking. Compared to the distance he'd had to travel to get here the first time, two hours from Saffron seemed reasonable. But Red was severely injured and each time he took a step with his right leg, pain shot through it. He _did_ have a high pain tolerance (due to being so strong-willed? He didn't know), but two hours of constant pressure on something that did hurt would wear even the strongest people down after a while.

He hated being injured though, it stopped him from being himself. He suddenly had to take all these precautions so he didn't make it worse, which would be even more debillitating. He just hated not being able to do everything at his usual quick pace, and had to slow down. He'd had to change the bandages too, and that was delightful. It wasn't the first time he'd done it, but it didn't get any better. He had bent down and rolled up the leg of his pants up to where the burn started. He'd down it beneath the table, but hey, no one was looking anyway (Red didn't care much for public opinion at this point). He'd unwound the bandage and peeled away the dressing, revealing his very red and angry burn.

He hated it. He hated it _so _much. It was so ungly and didn't seem to be healing at all. And the whole thing extended from where his leg began down to his knee, it would take so long for it to be completely better. He knew he'd have a massive scar from it too, the damage to the skin was irrepairable. That fact made him sad, his leg would never be normal-looking again. Whenever he thought about it, another little nagging thought would pop into his head, and it was about Mia. He kept worrying that she wouldn't like him anymore because of how it looked. He knew it was shallow, but he was really concerned. He was also quite worried about why he kept thinking about her. Someone had never been on his mind this frequently before.

Despite being inside for reasons he disliked, he was enjoying being there, because the weather outside was somewhat wild. The wind had really picked up, and the sky was ominously grey, and he predicted that there would probably be some more rain in the near future. This place was warm though, and he enjoyed not having his hair whip around him constantly due to the breeze.

He wondered why they put the two largest cities in the region in such close proximity to one another. Surely they'd be better off having one north and one south instead of just having them both in the middle? Maybe this was just the easiest place to build on, so that's why it was so developed. He didn't mind though, it was convenient and he liked not having to walk for a long distance to get to another place. Don't get him wrong, he loved travelling and all, but it was nice to have a little less to do every once in a while. He knew Pikachu thought so too, the poor thing had to take about four steps just to equal one of his.

This two hour walking trip was of course only a warm-up for what he'd have to do to get to Fuchsia. The city was in the south of Kanto, about fourty kilometres of so away from Celadon, so the trip would take him about three days. But in actual fact, it wouldn't even take him a day, and that fact alone made him much more enthusiastic to go. It was because of one thing, and that was the bicycle path. Beginning on route sixteen, which was next to Celadon, there was a path extending the whole way down to Fuchsia. It was rather convenient, and Red assumed it was built with the sole purpose of making the southern city more accessible. And it was working, because he was going there.

He'd been looking forward to riding down the path for a while now, just because it was close to the ocean. He'd been away from any large bodies of water for about two months now, and it had made him realise how much he actually _needed _to be near the ocean. It was such a large part of him, and he felt a little suffocated without it. Plus, if he closed his eyes when he was near it, he could almost feel like he was at home, and sometimes he needed that familiarity and comfort. Travelling alone did get a little overwhelming sometimes.

He was excited about getting to Fuchsia too, because it was a seaside city. It was built very close to the ocean, and he really wanted to spend some time just sitting on the sand with his pokemon. He'd never been there before, but he'd seen photos in the newspaper, and it looked nice. The beach seemed quiet, and there were no tourists there. He hoped that it was actually like that, because crowded beaches weren't his favourite thing. Crowds always ruined the magic of the ocean, that's why the one in Pallet Town was so nice. No one was ever there.

Red felt a nudge on his leg and he looked down to see Pikachu trying to get his attention. He smiled at the little creature, but it was tilting it's head to two people that were sitting at the counter of the cafe. Red peered over at them, not understanding why Pikachu was so interested. He tuned in on their conversation anyway, the mouse didn't usually steer him wrong with things.

"It basically means the bike path is blocked off for anyone coming to and from Celadon!" The girl whined, getting rather animated with the conversation. But that caught Red's attention, why couldn't he get on the path?

"No one even knows what type of pokemon it is! I've never seen one before, but it's so big!" The boy added, just as enthusiastic as the girl was about whatever they were talking about. Red had heard enough though, and he jumped up (though this hurt and he stumbled a litte), pulling his bag onto his back as he ran out the doors of the cafe.

* * *

Red stared up in awe at the giant creature in front of him. He'd never seen anything so big before, and it just seemed happy to stay there, sleeping and causing inconvenience for everyone. He wasn't annoyed at it, but it would be nice if it had chosen to rest a few metres to the right of left. It was quite majestic looking, Red noticed, with it's black and white colouring and utterly contented face.

"It won't wake up," An Officer commented, scratching her chin as she looked at it. A big crowd had gathered, and they were all annoyed that access to their city had been blocked. Shopkeepers were complaining that they'd lose business, especially after being blocked off from Saffron for so long, and civilians were saying how they'd be trapped in their city for a long time (despite it having multiple exits. Red couldn't comprehend the stupidity of people sometimes). She turned to Red, frowning. "I think it's a Snorlax, they're really rare around here. It must have wandered in from the forest or something,"

Red nodded, still staring up at the massive creature.

"I know who you are, kid," She chuckled, trying to forget the confusion of everything that was happening. "You're Red, that trainer that doesn't talk. My cousin in Vermilion told me about you, but I saw you on the news recently too. You defeated Team Rocket or something, right?" He nodded again. Why did every Officer know who he was? "You should probably have a shot at battling this thing though, you'd probably be just the one to save this city," This made him laugh on the inside, no one knew what he'd already done for this place, and he didn't mind. He didn't really like the publicity... "I don't know how you'd wake it up though. I was talking to Mister Fuji once, and he said that sleeping pokemon wake up when their played a tune at a specific frequency. There's an instrument or something that plays the right one,"

Hearing about Mister Fuji made Red feel unhappy all over again. The recent events had cleared his mind of what had happened in Lavender Town, but now he was remembering it all, and he felt just as bad. There was that same little ache in his chest, but he breathed deeply to try and rid himself of it. The only thing he took solace in was that he had defeated Team Rocket and they probably wouldn't be around to bother him anymore.

After putting the initial surprise of hearing Mister Fuji's name again, he thought about what the Officer had said. Was the instrument that little silver flute-type thing he'd found when he was in the Pokemon Tower? He pulled his bag off his back and rummaged around in it, trying to find the item. He pulled it out and held it up for her to see.

"Yeah, that is probably it," She smiled. "You might as well give it a shot,"

Oh, fantastic. Now the pressure was on him to try and wake this pokemon up and 'save' the city. Why did everything always have to depend on him? He would wonder sometimes that if he didn't have such a strong sense of justice, then maybe he wouldn't get himself into all these situation. He didn't really regret any of the things he'd done though, because they were all for the good of other people, even if they did hurt _him_. But anyway, right now he had to work out how to play the flute.

Awkwardly, Red placed his mouth on the instrument and blew into it. Remarkably, it made a noise (which startled Red, he didn't expect it to work) which was so quiet, that he could hardly hear it. He took his mouth off when he ran out of breath, but he'd done enough. Snorlax had begun to stir, it's eyes were opening. For a moment, he was a little sad that he had woken it up, because it had looked so peaceful how it was before. But then he thought about Fuchsia City and the bike path, and he was glad that he'd be able to be on his way soon.

Snorlax growled in annoyance, stretching it's arms out. Everyone was watching in fascination as this gigantic creature came to life. Slowly, it pushed itself up into standing and towered over everyone around it. It opened it's mouth and sucked in a deep breath. Red wondered what it was doing for a moment, and then it roared and stomped it's foot.

It was the _loudest _thing Red had ever heard, and he was frozen to the spot. It seemed so angry! Around him, everyone was panicking and screaming, which he thought was stupid because it would just enrage the pokemon even more. He looked around, and they were all leaving as fast as possible, muttering concerns to others. A few of them even yelled at him, saying things like: "What have you unleashed upon this city, stupid kid?" He didn't let it bother him though, because he was too...frightened. This thing could crush him! Only one person had stayed, and that was the Officer. She was hiding behind a tree though, grinning sheepishly at Red.

Red was lost, he had no idea what to do. He could either make a run for it, or stay here and try to defeat this thing. He was probably going to choose the latter, because no one else seemed to be making an effort to try and save the city. Pikachu looked up at him in concern, and he nodded with his head for it to step in front of him. It did so, but appeared to be quite scared of the huge creature. That wasn't surprising though, it was about twenty times the size.

_'Use Thunder on it, buddy,' _He was finally able to move again, and he talked to Pikachu quickly as Snorlax had taken a few steps towards them. Pikachu growled and sparks began to fly from it's cheeks. A large bolt of electricity projected from it, hitting Snorlax. It shook off the slight shock is had received and seemed basically unaffected. How could that be? _'And try again!' _Once again, the attack had little success.

Snorlax roared, and swayed slighty. It stopped moving, and Red didn't understand what it was doing. Slowly, it tipped itself over and fell to the ground, right on top of Pikachu. Red gasped, forgetting all his fright and running towards the massive creature, ignoring the pain in his leg. It was asleep again, and he pushed his back against it, trying to get it to move over so he could get his pokemon out. He pushed for a minute or two with no luck, the thing was just too heavy.

Red fell down onto his knees, tears springing into his eyes. What if Pikachu was dead? It had just been crushed by something that weighed a lot more than _it _did. There was no way that it could have survived that! He punched the ground angrily, it wasn't fair! Why did everything good in his life have to be taken away from him? He'd done so many good things recently, why was he being punished? For the first time in his life, he was crying aloud. Sobbing out of pure anguish and pain, his best friend was probably dead! He wanted to scream, but wouldn't let himself.

Impulsively, with shaking hands, he unzipped his bag, pulling out that ball he'd been given by the President of the Silph Corporation. What was it called again? The Masterball? He couldn't quite remember. But he knew that if he threw it at Snorlax, then it would be gone and he'd be able to get Pikachu out. He told himself that he wasn't sure if it was dead, and this was the only way he would find out (he'd forgotten all about the Poke Flute at this point). He couldn't take any risks in using a weaker ball, because he _needed _to get Pikachu. Is this how Green felt when Raticate had died?

He stood up and tossed the ball at Snorlax. It disappeared inside and the item shook twice before clicking, indicating that he'd caught it. He grabbed the ball angrily, stuffing it back inside his bag. He looked over to where it had been sleeping, and saw Pikachu lying there. He ran over, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks and bent down to pick his pokemon up. But as he lowered himself, he saw that it's eyes were open. It was smiling weakly, and it was breathing! It was alive! Pikachu was alive!

He picked the creature up, and span it around. He had never been so happy in his entire life! He was still crying, but not because he was sad anymore, he was just so _happy! _


	29. Bike Path

Two chapters in one day! Are you guys proud of me? :D

Also, this one is a little shorter again, I'm so sorry! But it's hard to make filler chapters long, not much happens in them :| Enjoy anyway!

* * *

**Chapter 27: Confidence**

"To be honest, I didn't have to encounter a Snorlax," Green laughed. "Red doesn't know it, but for that part of my journey, and his for that matter, I was actually behind him. I was just leaving Celadon as he made it to Fuchsia. Though, I did defeat the gym there before him. He must have been wasting a lot of time doing something or other there, because going to the gym was always my first stop. You know, he was probably just sitting on the beach, he seems to like it a lot,"

* * *

Red held onto Pikachu tightly as he entered the gateway to the bike path. Ever since his run in with Snorlax, he'd become a little protective of the creature. When he thought about battling with it, he would get nervous, worrying something terrible could happen. He'd felt the grief for a few minutes, and he hadn't even been able to deal with that, so he had to make sure Pikachu stayed safe. He knew he'd have to battle with it soon, but he'd work on that when that when it got here.

He'd been thinking a lot about Green over the past few hours after the incident. He felt a newfound sympathy for his rival, he finally understood what he had gone through. To lose someone that's important to you is one of the hardest things, and now he knew what that was like, even if it haden't happened exactly. He'd always figured that death was something you could get over easily, that if you took your mind off it you'd soon forget it. Now he realised that that wasn't the case, and it would always be there with you, no matter what you did. And Green had lost two important things, Raticate and his father.

But Red didn't want to feel unhappy about anything, so he held onto Pikachu tightly and walked through the building, filling his mind with thoughts about the ocean which he would soon be riding alonside.

"Hey kid, you can't walk along the path, you have to have a bike," The gatekeeper called to him. In response, Red unzipped his bag and pulled out the bike he had received from the store in Cerulean. It was a fold-up bicycle, and until now had just been taking up space in his bag. He hadn't actually used it before, even though he'd had it for about four months or so. Red didn't know why he hadn't used it, but just assumed that he preferred to be on foot rather than wheels, even if it would cut the time it took him to reach places by about half.

_"My favourite is Rapidash! It's cute, lovely, smart, plus amazing! Do you think so?" _

_Coming to the Pokemon Fan Club had been the worst idea Red had ever had. At first he'd thought it would be nice to meet likeminded people who had a passion for pokemon like him, but when he'd gotten there he'd realised that they were all just really vain, only caring about what their pokemon looked like. Their President was the worst. He'd caught sight of Red and had began a conversation that had actually started with him asking if he came here to listen to him brag. Of course Red couldn't speak up and object, so now he was sitting with the man, absolutely bored out of his mind. _

_"Oh yes, it's stunning and so kindly!" He continued. "I just love it! I hug it when it's sleeping because it's so warm and cuddly. It's main is so spectacular and ravishing!" He looked down at his watch and gasped. Everything about this man was so animated, it was quite fascinating. But that didn't make up for the boredom Red was suffering. "Look at the time! I've kept you too long, sorry about that. Thank you for listening to me though," He pulled open his desk drawer, searching around for something. Eventually he pulled out a piece of shiny gold paper. "I want you to have this. You can exchange it for a bike at the store in Cerulean. I'm friends with the owner and he gave it to me, but I don't ride. Hopefully you'll put it to good use,"_

He unfolded the bike and clicked it all into place, making sure that it was sturdy enough. Once he deemed it okay, he jumped onto it. He wobbled at first, but after about a minute was able to get his balance. The gatekeeper nodded and smiled at him, and he rode out the building and onto the path.

Straight away he could see the water, and everything in his life was okay again. He didn't feel uneasy or unhappy, he just felt content. He smiled at it, letting the beauty of it work it's way into his memory. He wanted to savour this moment, and preserve it for the rest of his days. He'd almost forgotten how lovely the ocean was after being away from it for so long. He wondered how he'd managed to survive without seeing or feeling it and made a mental note not to go this long again without visiting the sea.

He closed his eyes, letting the breeze ruffle his hair around a little. It was moments like this that allowed him to be able to step back and just contemplate everything that had happened to him. He thought about the Snorlax incident, but no longer felt paranoid. He suddenly had his confidence again, he _wanted _to battle. There was no point feeling worried about something that probably wouldn't even happen, it would hold him back from defeating the Elite Four, something that he wanted more than _anything. _He was going to try his very hardest now. The ocean always put him in such a good mood, it could really cure any problems or doubts he might be thinking about himself.

He wasn't even sure why he was so attached to the water, he just always remembered feeling like that. It had been his constant companion, always faithful whenever he'd had problems with other kids. Especially when he was eight and he'd had that unfortunate falling out with Green. He thought it was because it was so vast. It was the largest thing in the world, and compared to it, his silly little issues appeared small and insignificant. It would help put him in the right frame of mind to take on anything that came his way.

Unfortunately today hadn't been the warm day he'd hoped for. The sky was completely cloudy, making the water a dark grey. He didn't like it any less, of course, but it just was a little chilly. He had kept high hopes for it to be a sunny day, but it was the beginning of winter now, and cold days were to be expected. He pulled his vest tightly around him and placed Pikachu on his shoulder. Cautiously, he lifted his feet off the ground and began to pedal the bike. It was one thing to ride out of the building, but when it was a constant downhill path, _that_ required a little more navigation.

He had his hand on the brake just in case, but riding was going fairly smoothly. He tried to stay as close to the edge as possible, that way he was as close as he could be to the ocean. It had definitely been worth having to travel so long to get here, this place was perfect.

"Hey, kid!" Red put the brake on and searched around for whoever had called his name. It had come from another guy on a bike who was dressed in a leather jacket and had quite an outrageous mohawk going on. Red stared at it, wondering just how he got it sticking up so high. "Pretty impressive, hey?" He laughed when he noticed Red gawking. "Anyway, you look like a trainer, so we should have a battle,"

Red hesitated, thinking back to only hours before when that particular...accident occurred. But he stole a glance at the ocean next to him, and felt okay about it. He could do this, he'd battled so many times before, it's not like now would be any different. Pikachu jumped off his shoulder, standing in front of him, ready to begin. Obviously Snorlax hadn't disheartened it, which he supposed was a good thing.

_'I don't want you battling this time, Pikachu,' _He said, and the creature walked back slowly towards him, disappointed. _'I'm sorry, I just think you should have a break after what happened earlier. You understand that, right?' _It nodded, frowning slightly. Red felt a little bad, but he would rather one of his other pokemon battle this time. Plus, Pikachu did appear a little tired. He reached into his bag and pulled out Wartortle's ball. They were right near the water, so it deserved some time around it.

"Wait, you're deaf?" The guy did a double-take, staring at Red's hands incredulously. Red shook his head, sighing. He hadn't had this for a while, and he was almost getting used to not being asked it. He was reminded of the times back in Pallet Town and shuddered slightly. There were some things he _really _didn't miss. Another one was the pain in his leg, he surely wouldn't miss that when it eventually would go (biking wasn't really doing wonders for it's healing though). "Do you not battle then?" He sighed again in frustration. When he shook his head to answer _no, _that usually meant he wasn't deaf!

Quickly, he reached back into his bag and pulled out a pen. He always had one on him as it came in handy quite often when he needed to communicate with particularly stupid people. He didn't have any paper, so his arm would have to do. _'I'm not deaf,' _He scrawled along his forearm. _'I just don't speak,' _He then stepped up to the guy and showed him what he had written. His mouth formed an O, and Red couldn't help but chuckle slightly at this. _'We can battle though, because I am a trainer,'_

"Oh!" The guy suddenly cried. "I know you!" Apparently something had clicked in his mind when he had read that he didn't speak. "You're that guy that stopped Team Rocket back in Saffron City! I saw you on the news! Dude, that was crazy! You must be a super-good trainer!" Red shrugged modestly, he wasn't going to deny what he had accomplished. "I wouldn't stand a chance, I'm not very good, you see,"

_'No, no, no! Let's battle!' _He insisted. By now, his arm was almost completely full of writing. He was struggling to find somewhere new to write. _'I like it,' _He felt a drop of rain on his arm, and the ink where it had landed started to run. He looked up and was hit on his cheek by another drop. Well, this was fantastic.

"Well, it's raining anyway, so I'm gonna take off," The guy said. "I'll see you later, kid," Red watched him jump on his bike and speed off down the hill. Pikachu was whining from it's place on the ground, and Red smiled at the creature. He knew it didn't like the rain.

_'Here, buddy,' _He lifted it up and slowly placed it inside his bag. It was just the right size for Pikachu, and it smiled up at him, looking quite cosy and comfortable. He zipped it up, but left a little space open for air and so it would be able to see what was going on. He pulled his bag back onto his back and Pikachu mewed contentedly. Wartortle, on the other hand, was staring out at the ocean and holding it's hands out to try and catch the rain. It was so happy, there was no way he'd be able to put it back in it's ball now. _'Come jump up here,' _He called to it, patting the back of the bike seat. It jumped up, waiting for him to join it.

The rain had become quite heavy, and Red's clothes were already soaked through. His wet shirt was making him shiver, and he thought it was probably best if he took it off. Cold material would give you more of a chance of contracting some sort of illness, and he really wanted to avoid it. So he pulled off his vest and shirt (though this embarrassed him a little, everyone could _see _him!) and hung them on his handlebars. Finally he was ready to take off, and he jumped on his bike with Wartortle and sped off down the path.

He could hardly see where he was going, and the wind was making his bike veer off in all sorts of directions. He probably should have waited until tomorrow to ride the path, but he didn't regret it. Those moments of joy when he first saw the water were worth much more than having to survive a bit of a storm. He squinted his eyes, trying to see where he was headed. In the distance he could see a small building, was that the gateway to Fuchsia City?


	30. Fuchsia City

This has to be one of the cruddiest chapters I've ever written :( I was looking forward to it for a while, and suddenly school has started again and I am unable to write very well. So sorry about it, I hope you enjoy anyway.

Also, I'm going to Sydney on Thursday and will come back Sunday, so there might not be any updats until then. Eep, I'm sorry!

* * *

**Chapter 28: Discover**

"I don't really understand why Red doesn't talk," Green admitted. "He's told me the whole story about how he thinks it magnifies everything good in life, but I just find it hard to comprehend how he manages to get by without ever saying anything. I do admire his patience, I wish I had the capabilities to be such a good person like that,"

* * *

Red was almost in town now, he could see the houses (and the red roof of the Pokecentre, that was fairly eye-catching) and the shoreline of the ocean. So far, Fuchsia appeared exactly like what he had hoped, quiet, yet still lively enough to be called a city. He could tell that he was going to like it here already, just for the fact that it was bigger than Pallet but still next to the ocean. Actually, Cerulean and Vermilion had been like that too, so it wasn't new. Then again, he _had _really liked those places too.

He shifted his gaze back in front of him, which was a smart thing to do when you were riding a bike. It had stopped raining about ten minutes ago, and he could now actually see what was ahead of him (which was rather handy). The clouds had parted slightly, but there was no sun as it was getting quite late in the day. What a day it had been too, in the morning, he'd began in Saffron, made it to Celadon and then caught a Snorlax and thought his best friend was dead. Then he'd ridden fourty kilometres and been caught in a torrential downpour of rain, and was now riding absolutely soaked in Fuchsia City. He'd travelled quite a distance, and he was proud of himself.

Unfortunately, when he did look ahead, he saw a person standing directly where he was going. If he could speak up, then he would have shouted for them to move out the way unless the wanted to seriously injure themselves, and him for that matter. But he couldn't, so instead he just slammed the brakes on, almost sending Wartortle flying off the seat. He noticed them step out the way just as he stopped (and he had been so focused on missing them, that he hadn't even noticed what they looked like). Well, that was annoying.

But those ill-feelings evaporated when he turned to them.

"Well, hey there, handsome," Mia looked him up and down, noting his bare chestedness. Red's eyes widened and he felt his face turn redder than it ever had before when he remembered that he indeed, didn't have a shirt on. He pulled his soaked one off the handlebars and held it in front of him, attempting to cover up his nakedness.

_'Hi, Mia,' _He replied, embarrassed. _'I'm running into you everywhere, are you following me?' _He continued, jokingly. But really, he was just trying to get his face to stop blushing. He was awfully glad to see her though.

_'Not likely,' _She laughed. Wow, he'd really missed that, but he couldn't work out why still. _'I'm getting to all these places before you, buddy, so it's probably the other way around,'_

_'Well, even if you are, I don't mind it,' Oh, God, Red. _He'd already stuffed up and he'd been here for all of two minutes. _You should be isolated from human beings._

_'Me neither,' _They stared at each other awkwardly, letting what he'd just said hang in the air. He always had a good time with Mia, but this was just uncomfortable. She was fidgeting with her hands, obviously feeling the same. He'd made it awkward though, so it was his job to try and make it better, he couldn't rely on her just because he didn't talk. He couldn't think of anything to say though, so he just attempted to pull his wet shirt on. It _was _rather cold and uncomfortable. _'No, you can't wear that,' _She insisted, grabbing the clothing before he had a chance to pull it over his shoulders.

_'Why not?'_

_'You'll catch a cold, silly,' _She shook her head. _'Come with me, we'll get get your clothes dry,' _She began to walk off, and he jumped off his bike so he could wheel it and follow her side-by-side. They walked in silence, but it wasn't a bad silence, it was comfortable. He was happy just being with her, even if they weren't really saying a lot.

They'd been walking for about five minutes, when she suddenly stopped in front of a big, historical looking building. It had two storeys and slightly resembled a house, just about three times the size. Surely this couldn't be where she lived? It looked way to big for a small family. She noticed him gawking at it, and giggled again.

_'Nice, hey?' _He nodded, unable to take his eyes off it. It was just so _huge. 'I don't live here, if you're wondering. It's just one of the schools we do work with. Anyway, let's go inside. We can put your things in the dryer,'_

_'Let me just put my bike away,' _He bent down and unclicked the little hook that kept the bicycle from collapsing on itself. He folded it up and unzipped his bag to put it away. When he opened it though, he found Pikachu inside, curled up fast asleep. He couldn't help but smile at this, the little creature looked cute. He reached inside and lifted it out, hoping that it wouldn't wake. Unfortunately, when he placed it down onto the ground, the surprise _did _wake it up and it whined quietly. _'Oh, you've been asleep for ages, it's about time you woke up,' _He recalled Wartortle and placed it's pokeball inside his bag along with the bike.

He followed Mia into the 'house', and wasn't quite as impressed as he had been with the outside. It wasn't horrible, but it was just like an average house with lots of rooms, nothing particularly special. He supposed that it had been renovated recently to make it look a little more modern. He felt like he was intruding a little too, what if her parents didn't want him there? They were working, after all.

"Here," She announced, gesturing the the laundry. "You can just put all your things in the dryer," He nodded and dumped his vest, spare pants and shirts into the machine. He couldn't really put _all _his clothes in there, he had to wear something for now. She pressed a button and the dryer jumped to life with a whirring sort of noise that startled Pikachu.

* * *

They'd been watching his clothes spin around in the machine for about twenty minutes now, and frankly, Red wanted them to hurry up. He was rather cold, now that he had stopped moving, and it felt a bit weird having a wet shirt on. Not at all pleasant. Mind you, it was better than when he was in that laundromat in Saffron and had absolutely nothing to do. This time he had Mia to talk to at least. That's what they had been doing so far too. She had been telling him stories about her travels in Johto, and he had a newfound determination to visit the region. Now, the conversation had shifted slightly.

_'You know, I saw you on the news in Saffron,'_

_'A lot of people did,' _He frowned. _'I never even gave them permission to broadcast me, and now I'm getting all this attention. I don't really like it,' _He'd hoped that he wouldn't get any media attention if he were to become the Champion, but if he got so much from something like this, then he would be bound to get some for that. It didn't deter him though, he'd wanted to be the Champion for pretty much his whole life, so a little bit of fame couldn't be that bad when he got there. But for this, he'd just rather be thanked personally.

_'Well, I was really excited when I saw it anyway,' _She continued. _'I think I cheered at the television and freaked my brother out a little when you flashed up. But I'm proud of you, and I uh, don't like Team Rocket either,' _A large smile slowly crept it's way onto Red's face, and he couldn't make it go away. Her being proud of him meant a lot for some reason.

_'You know, I probably wouldn't have been able to do it if you hadn't spoken to the guard that night,' _He commented, still beaming.

_'I wanted to help in any way I could, even if I couldn't be in there battling with you,' _She shrugged her shoulders shyly. Gosh, that was so cute! Red didn't even understand these stupid feelings, and that annoyed him.

_'Thanks,' _His grin got wider. _'Actually, I've been meaning to ask, why did you pull me away from that grunt outside the Saffron gym?'_

She laughed, looking at him a little strangely. His question wasn't that weird, was it? _'Two reasons,' _She began. _'Number one is that I didn't know you had defeated them in Celadon yet,' _Oh yeah, he'd forgotten about that. _'And number two, well, uh...' _She stopped, hesistating.

_'What's wrong?' _He noticed her frown and was a little concerned.

_'It doesn't matter,'_

_'I'd still like to hear,' _This made her smile, and it was the loveliest and most genuine thing he'd ever seen. But really, he hadn't been that polite then, had he?

She sighed, staring down into her lap. _'It's just, uh,' _She trailed off again, but then looked up at his hopeful face and continued. _'I didn't, um, want to lost two...uh, important people to me to...Team Rocket,' _

_'I would never join Team Rocket, not in a million years,' _He attempted to reassure, but was even more concerned now. So she'd had past experience with them too.

_'I know,' _She touched his arm comfortingly. _'You're a really good person, and I trust you,'_

The touch made him smile, it felt warm and...right. He'd never felt this connected to a _person _before, but she just seemed to understand him. Usually he wasn't much bothered with making friends or just generally being around people, but this was different, and he liked that. _'Who was the other person?' _He asked quietly, not wanting to press her too far.

_'My dad,' _Oh, crud. She had Rocket blood in her. But Red didn't find himself put off at all, despite Mia being actually _related _to someone in the organisation he so despised. _'Seven years ago he decided to just up and leave. I hate him for it,' _She sniffed and Red looked over, finding that she had two tears rolling down her cheeks. Without really thinking about what he was doing and acting on instinct, he placed his arm around her shoulders. _'I just don't understand how such a good man could suddenly join an evil organisation like that,_

_'I'm sure he didn't want to leave you guys,' _He tried to comfort her. It was so difficult, he'd never done it with words before! But in his mind, Red was connecting things together. That Rocket who had given him the key in Celadon who had looked really unhappy, he had the same eyes as Mia, colour and shape. The same nose too. The more he looked at her, the more he could see the similarity between the two. Why had he not realised it earlier? And she had no idea how depressed he was. _'If it helps, I don't have a dad either,' _He added with a bitter laugh.

She laughed too. _'At least I'm not alone then,' _She wiped her eyes, blushing slightly. _'I'm sorry about crying, I just can't help it when I talk about this. You probably think I'm so weird,' _Suddenly, there was another noise added to the repetoire of...the dryer. There weren't any other sounds prior, really. But this sounded like footsteps, and they were headed towards the laundry. Both of them fell into silence, awaiting whoever it was. Eventually, a young boy (actually, he was about twelve) with a Vulpix on his shoulder peeked his head around the doorway.

_'Are you okay, Mia?' _He said it in sign language, and it was the most surprising thing Red had ever seen (besides when he'd first met her, of course). After the initial surprise of meeting someone else who could sign, he realised that everyone here probably could. She was working at a school for the deaf, after all. And that meant he could talk to everyone here, that was weird.

_'I'm fine,'_

_'Well, do you and friend want to play basketball with us?'_

_'In a second, Liam. We just have to wait until Red's clothes finish drying,' _He nodded and then rushed back out the room, rather enthusiastic. There was a dinging noise, followed by a click, indicating that his clothes were now dry. _Finally. _Mia turned to him, grinning. _'They're actually pretty decent at it,'_


	31. Fuchsia City 2

oh God. OH GOD. This chapter is less than 2000 words! I feel like I've sinned! I'm sorry guys, I'll write a better, longer chapter next time! I promise. Geez, I feel terrible when I write short proper chapters. I'm using the excuse that I should have added this last chapter and I just needed to add a filler in. I'm sorry it's boring, but there won't be some OC for a while now! I promise!

Also, I got back from Sydney today. It was amazing, I've gotta say. I've been there once before, but not for a few years. So yes, you guys should definitely go if you ever get a chance. Actually, go to Melbourne too. It's nice there. I've only been once though.

**BUT SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAPPENED THIS MORNING WHEN I WAS ON THE PLANE BACK! **I LOST MY GAMEBOY AND MY NEWLY REPAIRED GOLD. I AM ACTUALLY SO, SO UPSET. I'VE HAD IT FOR TEN YEARS, AND NOW IT'S ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTRY FROM ME. I'M SO SAD.

**Now I'm going to go cry.**

But seriously, I am legitimately upset about this. But I'm going to go order a new one in the same colour. BUT IT'S NOT THE SAME.

Anyway, enjoy this crappy chapter. This story will get better, I promise.

* * *

**Chapter 29: Socialising**

_'I think being silent has made me the best person I can be,' _Red mused. _'Seriously, if I talked, then I would have gotten into so much more than I already did. I would lose my cool all the time, probably yelling and screaming at everything that annoyed me. I suppose you can say I've really learnt to hold my tongue,'_

* * *

_'You're all in teams then, I see?' _Mia said, looking at all the kids who were standing opposite each other on the basketball court. _'Well, since Liam's team is already up one player, Red and I will join the other one,' _She suggested, leading him over to the left side of the court. The children (to be fair, most were only a few years younger than them) were all eyeing him warily, and it made him a little self-conscious. They weren't really accepting him yet. He didn't really blame them though, children were just like this, no matter who they were.

_'Is his name Red, then?' _A young girl of about twelve again spoke up. She was on their team. _'How will he play if we all use sign language?'_

_'I can sign,' _He answered, grinning sheepishly. Her mouth dropped open in surprise, she was obviously not expecting this. A lot of the other children seemed surprised as well, a few of them gasped and one even laughed. They seemed visibly more relaxed now, and Red knew that he'd won them all over.

She closed it soon after, her cheeks flushing slightly. _'I...Oh, sorry! I didn't realise...' _He just shook his head, letting her know that it was okay. It was really strange though, he'd never been able to talk to so many people in his life, yet suddenly, he was in a group of about twenty that could all understand him. It was nice to be able to be a little bit social for a change. Green and his mother had always been enough, but it was always nice to talk to new people. Mind you, his mother had looked around for a kindergarten that taught in sign language, but everything she had found was always in the big cities. There was virtually nothing available for him in Pallet. But he'd survived, hadn't he? He was still a pretty good person, too.

_'Let's play then, guys,' _Mia announced, stepping into the middle of the court and bouncing the ball. As soon as she did, everyone suddenly rushed in. The opposing team all rushed in to get the ball off her, but she was too quick and dribbled it out the way. _'Red!' _She called to him. He looked at her, and she threw the ball in his direction, winking. He caught it and ran towards their goalpost. But when he started to run, the burn on his leg stung. Oh darn, he'd almost forgotten all about that. He sighed and stopped, throwing the ball to one of his teammates.

He liked basketball, it had always been one of his favourite sports. So it was quite frustrating when he actually got a chance to play it with people he could _talk _to that something else got in the way that would not let him enjoy himself. He stopped moving for a moment to watch the game, hoping that if he was still then miraculously he would stop hurting. It didn't hurt when he _was _still, so it was easy to fool himself into thinking that he was okay.

This time he just stood back and looked onto what was happening. It was so _silent. _He'd never seen a bunch of people that were so quiet in his entire life. He didn't think it was bad though, quite the contrary actually. These kids were silent like him, even if it was for different reasons. It was nice though, he'd never been able to talk so much in well, ever. They all shared somewhat of a connection, even if it was just because they didn't talk.

_'Hey, are you alright?' _Mia was signing to him with a concerned look on her face. He'd been quite wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't realised that he was standing alone on the left end of the court and that the game was occuring up the other end now.

_'Yeah, I'm fine,' _He answered, glancing down at his burn quickly. _'I just don't feel so well,'_

_'What's wrong?' _She sounded even more concerned now.

_'It's nothing, re-'_

_'Don't say anything yet!' _It was said in such an exclamation, that it cut him off. _'Come over here,' _She started to reach for his hand, but lingered for a moment before deciding just to grab his forearm. This made him smile, but also frown. Smile because she was almost holding his hand, frown because she was _almost _holding his hand. Mia pulled him along the courts and then out of the fence that surrounded it. There was a small balcony, and she stopped and lent against the railing, letting go of his arm now.

The view was breathtaking. He hadn't realised that the school had been on such a hill, but now it was obvious. He could see the whole city from here, and because it had started to get dark, all the lights were on and they made everything twinkly. It was definitely the loveliest view he had seen whilst travelling. The ocean was there too, stretching out into the horizon. The city looked perfect.

_'Now tell me what's wrong,' _She said.

_'Oh, it's just that,' _He hesitated, but didn't take his eyes off the city. _'When I was fighting Team Rocket in Saffron, I was um, pushed against a, uh...boiler and was burnt. So yeah, that hurts a little when I move,'_

"Shit!" Mia gasped, and then covered her mouth, embarrassed that she had swore. "Where...how? Are you okay?" Red didn't get to hear her voice often because they were always talking in sign language, but he always liked it when she spoke to him properly.

_'Just on my leg here,' _He pointed to where said injury was. _'But it's getting better, I think. So I'm okay,'_

_'You should have told me!' _She had switched back to sign language now, much to Red's disappointment. _'You poor thing, I'm so sorry,'_

He laughed now. Why was she apologising? _'Will you not like me now because of it?' _The thought had been on his mind ever since the stupid incident had happened, but he'd never wanted to ask outright like this. Why was he such an idiot around her? He was always calm and able to speak well when it was Green or his mum, but it would never go smoothly with Mia. If she didn't hate him for the stupid burn, surely she would because of his speaking.

_'What?' _She stared at him, dumbfounded. _'Why wouldn't I? You're a great guy, and I'm not that shallow,' _She laughed at the end. _'You don't think that lowly of me, do you?' _He shook his head, and breathed a silent sigh of relief. Everything was okay!

_'Well, thank you,' _He grinned, a little embarrassed that he had even considered such a thing. He looked back out over the town, realising that it had now gotten completely dark. He didn't really like being out by himself in a city when it was night, so he should probably go to the Pokecentre soon. He knew where Mia was now, so she wasn't such an elusive being and he could actually visit her. He still didn't really want to leave though... _'I should be going, it's dark,'_

_'Oh, okay,' _She said slowly. _'Um, I'll see you around then?'_

_'Yeah, of course,' _He laughed, almost as if the statement had been obvious. _'Let's go, buddy,' _Red looked down to the floor at Pikachu and took a few steps away from her. He paused for a moment, his leg still stinging, and then walked off, feeling a little empty.

"Red!" He spun around, his heart leaping because well, she wanted to talk to him again! "You should go visit the Safari Zone in Fuchsia sometime, it seems like something you'd like," A large grin made it's way onto his face. Well, it was a start.

* * *

Red hadn't been early enough to get a room in the Pokecentre, so like many times before, he was forced to sleep out in the foyer with many other wandering trainers. He found a bare lounge (if there was something Pokecentres had, it was comfy seating) and placed his things down on it. Pikachu snuggled up against him, but he found himself still wide awake. These centres really ought to upgrade their capacities, there were about twenty-five people (himself included) roomless. What concerned him the most was how many trainers there actually were in the _region. _Surely they'd be just as good as him, if not better? All chasing the same dream too, to be the best, to become the Champion.

That made him feel a little down on himself. He didn't have much of a chance, did he? He'd never really been the best at anything, so why should it start now? He pushed those thoughts out his head, telling himself he was just tired and of course he was a decent trainer. A lot had happened today though, so he had every right to feel a bit off. First of all, he'd walked from Saffron at the crack of dawn so he could get to Celadon and still have a full day ahead. He had not planned to catch a Snorlax though, and those few minutes of grief had really exhausted him. Looking back, he regretted using the Masterball, it was a one chance thing, and he pretty much used it immediately.

Then of course he'd riden that fourty kilometres, run into Mia, played basketball and then trecked for about twenty minutes in the dark to the Pokecentre. And tomorrow he was going to check out that Safari Zone. But by the time he got to this thought, he was already fast asleep.


	32. Safari Zone

This chapter is a bit longer, and hopefully a bit better written :) Sorry for not updating as frequently as I did a few weeks ago, stupid school is getting in the way of everything. I'm quite sick of it.

Anyway, thank you guys for all your kind words about my gameboy :) It definitely did cheer me up, you guys are the best :D Alsoooo, thank you for all the reviews as well! I appreciate all of them, and all the new reviewers as well :D

Oh yeah, sorry for any spelling mistakes too. I'm generally a decent speller, but sometimes my fingers hit extra keys by accident and things go all haywire. I also use wordpad, not word, so there's no spellcheck. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 30: Safari**

_'Pallet Town was technically my home, but it never really felt that way. Do you understand?' _Red asked. He was pulling a strange expression, almost as if he was worried that they didn't know what he was talking about. As if he thought what he was saying was weird. _'I lived there, but I always felt more at home when I was just walking through Kanto. My home was everything changing, never actually having the same thing each day. That's why Mount Silver is so nice, I can wander around and by the time I get back to the place I started with, it's a new season and everything looks different. The mountain is huge,'_

* * *

Red stared at the Chansey in the cage in front of him. He knew that the zoo had good intentions and it did just want to provide entertainment for tourists, but seeing pokemon caged up like this made him feel a little uneasy. Especially with the Chansey, it was a creature that just wanted to help, so it didn't seem right that it was trapped like this. It didn't look sad though, but it didn't look happy either. He tried to smile at it, but failed, having such little space like this just didn't seem like it was something good.

Mind you, you could argue that pokeballs did the same thing, but most pokemon didn't mind those because they got let out fairly often. Except Pikachu, he'd never seen that thing in it's ball. To be honest though, Red liked that about it. They probably wouldn't be such good friends if he walked alone, and he'd probably get lonely anyway and would have let it out. He wasn't going to argue how things were turning out, and when he thought about it, he couldn't believe how unhappy he'd been right at the beginning. Oh, if only he'd been able to see where things would go.

He directed his attention to the next exhibit. It was a Lapras, just like his. It was floating contentedly in the water in it's pen, but Red still didn't think was quite right. It should really be swimming in the ocean, not something ten metres long. He frowned to himself, he didn't like being so cynical, but he couldn't help it. The rights of pokemon were something he really cared about, despite what other people thought of him. You know, this was probably why he'd gotten into so much trouble with Team Rocket.

Not really wanting to look at caged pokemon anymore, Red walked off from the zoo, turning towards the big building in front of him. He was assuming this was a part of the Safari Zone, due to the sign reading 'Safari Zone' above the door. He wasn't even sure what it actually was, but it had been recommended to him, so it had to be decent at least. He trusted Mia's tastes (oddly enough). The word _safari _gave him the impression that he would be watching pokemon from a car or with a tour guide. That didn't sound too bad, but he'd prefer to walk by himself.

He pushed open the doors and had a look around. The foyer was rather busy, and there was a queue extending from the front counter to pretty much where he had walked in. He figured that this was probably the best place to find out what he'd be doing and joined it.

There were about ten people in front of him, and it was moving slowly. _Really _slowly. He'd been in here for about ten minutes and only two people had gone through. What was the hold up? Red tapped his foot impatiently, maybe this place wasn't worth it after all. If the service was this bad, it was probably just a precursor of what would come. Mind you, he had nothing better to do, so he might as well just stay here. Actually, there was the gym, but well, he was already here.

* * *

"That's ten dollars," The lady behind the counter held out her hand expectantly. Red pulled his wallet out his pocket and searched through it, trying to gather the right amount. He didn't have a lot, so he decided just to get rid of all the change he had. What better time to do it than now? The lady was annoying, so he just wanted to get her back. He dumped all the silver change which he had gradually accumalated from past purchases onto the bench and counted them out. He managed to make up ten dollars worth of ten and twenty cent coins, and then pushed them over to her.

She glared at him, but took the coins. She couldn't exactly not, could she? He'd given her the money, after all. So he just grinned, that silver had been making his wallet heavy anyway. Mind you, now he only had ten dollars left. It looks like he'll be having the free Pokecentre dinner again.

Besides being completely dumb when it came to technology, Red also wasn't very good at saving his money. Earlier in his life it hadn't been much of a problem, but as he was getting older, he was finding it a bit more a challenge. But hey, he'd made it this far and managed to not often go hungry, so he can't have been doing too badly.

"You get thirty Safari balls and an hour in the park," She said boredly, still counting out his coins. "They're over there in a bag. Have fun," It was said so unenthusiastically that Red left the building feeling a little sad for her. She must really hate her job.

But as soon as he stepped out into the park, he forgot all about that. This place was fantastic! There was knee-deep grass stretching for miles into the distance, and in the _distance _he could see small mountains and rocks. There were even these small lakes! He couldn't believe such a wonderful place could exist! It really accounted for every aspect of a pokemon, and he liked that. It was about time someone gave something back to them. There were lots of other trainers too, most of them were battling though, despite the bad weather.

And that was another thing. It was the beginning of winter now, and the temperatures had dropped dramatically. Red found himself cold most of the time, but being who he was, he'd forgotten to bring a jacket. He would have bought one, but you know, no money or anything. And the wind, don't get him started on that! It was never not windy, but he supposed it was because he was close to the ocean. As much as he loved the water, the constant blowing around of _everything _did annoy him every so often.

But back to the present. Red figured that the best thing to do right not would probably be to explore a little, this place was huge and he really had no clue where to start or even really what to do. So he walked forward into the grass and then turned, heading east. Pikachu seemed to like it, which was nice. The little mouse was running in front of him, and every so often it would squeal in delight. It made him smile, seeing his pokemon happy like this.

If Pikachu liked it so much, his other pokemon probably would too. He reached into his bag and one by one, released his party. Well, just Wartortle, Charmeleon and Ivysaur because Lapras probably couldn't move around an awful lot if it wasn't in the water. As for Snorlax, Red was afraid to let it out of the ball. What if it was still really angry and tried to attack him? Or someone else, then he'd be held responsible for damage. He was still a little shocked from when he had caught it, and as such wasn't quite ready to see it again. Actually, he'd been worrying a little that it was explode out of it's ball and just crush him. It was a silly thing to think, he knew that, but it still scared him.

He felt a nudge against his foot, and looked down to find a small Paras by his feet. It was quite cute, so he bent down to it's level to have a better look. He pulled out some of the bait he'd been given when he'd paid (it was used to make the pokemon easier to catch, apparently. There were rocks to throw too, which he refused to use. It was rather cruel) and held it out in his hands. The little creature approached him warily and sniffed the food. It paused for a moment, and Red could tell that it was contemplating what to do. After about a minute, it turned around and scuttled off quickly into the grass, leaving him very confused.

They continued on, and Red almost felt as if he was walking to another town again. It was so familiar, yet he'd never been here before. He liked it though, there was no pressure to get to the next place so he didn't have to sleep outside in the cold (which was particularly nasty during winter). They hadn't gone far though, when something shiny caught his eye. He couldn't tell what it was from here, but it was sitting on a bench. He wandered towards it, rather curious.

He reached for the item and after a close examination, he realised that they were a set of gold dentures.

...Wait.

He dropped them in disgust and he felt his mouth hanging open. He became grossed out that he had touched something that had been in someone else's mouth, _several times. _He glanced around frantically for one of the mini lakes, but came up empty. So he had to get his waterbottle out and pour it over his hands to wash them clean. He kept imagining that the water was saliva (sometimes Red's imagination ran away with things), and that made him want to gag. Pikachu whined in concern for him, and he frowned and the creature.

_'They'd been in someone's mouth!' _He complained, making it laugh at his misfortune when it realised that nothing _was _actually wrong.

* * *

For some reason, the clouds had parted slightly and a small ray of sunshine was being let into the park, warming it up slightly. Red took this opportunity to let Lapras (and Wartortle) swim around in the water for a while. He'd located one of the lakes and as soon as it had come into sight, Wartortle had made a mad dash for it. It seemed so utterly content when it was in water, making Red feel a little guilty for not taking it to a pool or something sooner. He hadn't actually since he'd gotten in back in Vermilion, and that was about five months ago. Oops.

But both of them seemed to be having a grand time, and that, in turn, made him happy. Pikachu was dozing next to him on the bench, and Ivysaur and Charmeleon were playing around on the shore of the water. Those two got along fairly well, considering the latter's attitude and all. At least Charmeleon liked _someone _thogh.

"Wait, so you get a reward if you find...what was it again?" His attention was directed towards the two people standing near him, having a rather loud conversation. Usually he didn't eavesdrop, but the word reward had caught his interest.

"The Warden's dentures," The other replied. "I don't know how he managed to lose them, it's pretty weird. But there's been signs posted everywhere,"

Red had heard enough. He jumped up from the bench and broke into a sprint, startling Pikachu. His other pokemon seemed surprised too, but they soon caught up to him and were running too. They were putting in a pretty good effort, considering they were quite a bit smaller than him. As they ran back the way they came, Red worried about someone else picking them up. It had been about fourty minutes, surely someone else would have seen them? They were quite noticeable, just sitting there on the bench.

He heard a sudden beeping noise, and it startled him. He hadn't heard it before, and he stopped mid-run to search for the source. It was definitely coming from him, but he couldn't think of anything he owned that was technology. Besides his watch, of course, but even that was analogue. Eventually he located it, and found it was the timer that had been given to him at the beginning of the game. It recorded how long you'd been in for, and well, the hour was up. This was just great, he had no more money for another game and hadn't re-found the teeth.

Red heard some footsteps and saw one of the staff members coming towards him, obviously to escort him out. He made a snap decision here (and looking back, probably not the best one), and decided to keep running. He was fairly competitive and was pretty determined for anyone else not to find the Warden's teeth.

This didn't go down well with the staff guy though, and Red suddenly found himself involved in a mad chase. He was faster than the man, but his leg had started to ache, so it was fairly close. He couldn't stop though, because then he'd be caught (even though he wasn't even doing anything dangerous). So he pushed through the hurting, making it hurt more. How long had he been running for? Ten minutes? It seemed like longer than that...

But fortunately, he saw that familiar bench in the distance and sped up. He was almost there!

"Hey, stop kid!" He called, breathless. Red ignored him and grabbed the dentures (trying to ignore how gross they were) and stuffed them into his pocket. From here, he ran onwards, bursting through the main building and attracting some stares. He didn't stop running until he got to the Pokecentre, deeming this as a 'safe' haven. He slumped against the wall, completely out of breath. But his adrenaline was pumping, and it had been kind of fun.

His pokemon didn't seem to enjoy running so much though, as most of them were giving him evil eyes whilst trying to catch their breath. But hey, what did it matter what they thought? He'd made it, and that was the important part. But now came the difficult thing, trying to find the Warden. He had no idea who the man even was.

Red wandered up to the counter of the Pokecentre, waiting for the nurse to notice him. She was busy filling in a form, and when she looked up, the surprised look on her face made him laugh.

"Oh, I didn't see you there, I'm sorry!" She said, flustered. When he didn't answer, she frowned slightly, seeming a little put off. He sighed, why was it always at the Pokecentres? "What can I do for you?"

So he did what he always did in these situations, searched for something to write on. He found a spare pamphlet and turned it over to the blank side. _'Do you know where the Safari Zone Warden would be? I have something to give him,'_

"You found his teeth?" Her face broke into a smile. "He's been coming here every morning asking if anyone has found them yet. His house is just over the road from here," She pointed out the doors of the centre to a large white house just across the street. "He's going to be mighty grateful to you, kid," She laughed and he turned around and walked out the doors (still looking around warily for that emloyee of the Safari Zone. Hopefully the Warden didn't hear of that.).


	33. Fuchsia City 3

My chapter naming is getting awfully original, isn't it? Seriously, I can never think of things to call them, hmm.

Also, next chapter will be an interlude, yay!

* * *

**Chapter 31: Koga**

"I was really enjoying Fuchsia," Green interpreted for Red. "Well, mainly because of the beach. It had the nicest ocean I'd ever seen, much better than Pallet's. The one in Cerulean was nice, but it wasn't really in the town, and Vermilion was a little polluted from those massive ships docking there. But Fuchsia, it was just right,"

* * *

Koga had just finished a battle with a young girl who'd thought she was a pretty good trainer, but he'd proved her otherwise. He'd managed to take out all her pokemon with his Venomoth, and it had only sustained very minimal injuries. She had cried when she had lost and ran out of the gym, screaming that it wasn't fair, while Koga watched her, trying not to laugh. He used to feel for these people at the beginning of his career, but after many years of meeting sore losers, his patience had worn thin and now he just found them amusing. He knew she'd be back eventually, but not for a long time. This would probably be the final gym she challenged, just to "show him" how far she'd come.

He was a little tired now though, because even if a battle is easy you'll still be a bit worn out afterwards. Venomoth was resting on his arm and he smiled at the creature, it looked exhausted. But it was only the beginning of the day, he couldn't take a break for it yet. He fished around in his pocket, remembering that he usually kept a Potion or something in there, in case of situations like this. He pulled the little bottle out and unscrewed the cap. Venomoth frowned when it saw the liquid, it wasn't the biggest fan of the stuff.

"You're going to have to drink it," He said, clicking his tongue. "Otherwise you'll get sick," He offered the bottle to the creature, and it turned it's head defiantly. It was such a stubborn creature, it knew full well that if it battled again without drinking the medicine it wouldn't stay very healthy. They went through this every time, and yet it still wouldn't just _take_ it. He sighed, Venomoth was his best friend, but it could be so frustrating sometimes.

After about five minutes of struggling, he managed to get Venomoth to swallow the liquid. Immediately it looked revived and was no longer so exhausted. Koga raised an eyebrow at it, as if to say "See? I told you you'd feel better," It just glared back, not wanting to admit that he was right. _This _happened every time too, and the creature still didn't learn. Once it was looking better, he recalled it back into it's ball and then leant against one of the 'walls' of his gym. He had nothing to do anymore besides just stand and wait for someone else to come and challenge him.

It didn't take long, because as soon as he'd relaxed, someone walked into the gym. It was a young boy, probably about fourteen, with a Pikachu on his shoulder. He was searching around the gym, and Koga assumed he was probably looking for him. Well, he wouldn't be getting to him anytime soon (if at all), so he might as well just sit back and watch what unfolded. The trainers that were scattered around his invisible maze were all top-notch (they trained under him, after all), so this boy would probably have a hard time defeating them all.

The boy took a step forward, and immediately smacked into one of the glass walls. This never failed to amuse Koga, and he found himself almost doubled-over in laughter. Every trainer who entered his gym had the same problem, but the entertainment he got from it was always the same. He wiped his eyes once he managed to contain himself, and looked around to find the boy again. He was standing opposite one of his students, getting ready to battle. This would be good, he'd be able to judge whether he'd have to hand out a badge or not.

His student released her Drowzee, and the boy's Pikachu jumped off his shoulder. They paused for a moment, and she looked confused, almost as if she was hesitating to battle him. That was odd, usually his trainers jumped at the chance to fight someone. The boy nodded, and then she shouted something he couldn't really hear because of the glass walls. Koga waited for his reply, but there was nothing, just silence. But...Pikachu was attacking anyway. A large bolt of electricity hit Drowzee, and it was sent flying backwards and hit a wall. Slowly, it stood back up but Pikachu attacked again.

This time, Koga kept his eyes on the boy the whole time. Waiting for his lips to move and mutter something only Pikachu could hear. But still, there was nothing. There were a lot of hand movements though, _many _more than an average person. He watched them intently, they were really precise, surely they couldn't just be normal gesticulations. About a minute or two after he'd started watching, it hit Koga and he felt awfully stupid for not realising it before. The kid was using sign language to command his Pikachu! He didn't even realise that was possible!

Pikachu had attacked twice and already defeated Drowzee. Nothing had hurt the little creature either, and it jumped back onto the boy's shoulder, still as lively as it had been at the beginning of the battle. His student sighed and shook his hand before directing him in the direction of the next trainer. Maybe this kid was going to challenge him sooner than he'd originally thought.

* * *

Koga watched the boy approach him. He'd just defeated the last of his students with still no more than a scratch on his Pikachu. It had appeared so easy for him, and he knew that this boy had a real talent for battling and training. It was quite refreshing to see someone actually _strong _for once. He stopped right in front of him and stared upwards, as if he was asking for a battle. His eyes shocked Koga, they looked very powerful, as if there was a fire inside this kid, just waiting to come out. Maybe that was called passion? They seemed to show everything this kid had experienced too, as if it was all just etched into them.

He laughed to break the silence between them, and to cover up the surprise. "You want to battle me?" He asked, trying to sound confident. This guy really made him feel unsettled, there was something quite different about him. He nodded, and Koga smiled. "A mere child like you? Very well, I suppose I'll show you true terror of a ninja master!" It was what he said before every battle, but this time, it sounded pitiful and weak. All the power he usually held in his voice had drained out as soon as he'd looked at this kid's eyes.

Speaking of the kid, he was signing something to his Pikachu. It frowned up at him before taking a few steps backwards and sitting down against the 'wall'. So, he didn't speak at all? Koga wanted to ask him if he was deaf, but he knew that that was probably out of line. He pulled Venomoth's pokeball out and at the same time, the boy released a Charmeleon. Darn, he knew all about type advantages as well.

"Venomoth, Toxic!" He commanded, and the creature began to flap it's wings rapidly, releasing a big cloud of green-ish gas. The boy signed something quickly to his Charmeleon, and even though it had a hard time seeing through the haze (and was swaying slightly, it was poisonous to them, after all), it sent a large flame across the arena, hitting Venomoth squarely in the torso. "Just shake it off, you'll be alright," He called, watching it shudder slightly in the air. He had the upper hand right now, but that could easily change.

* * *

This kid was a great battler, there was no doubting that, and he was almost at the same level as Koga. _Almost _being the key word in that sentence. Unfortunately, his Pikachu (who remarkably had been able to deaf his Venomoth) didn't have enough energy to defeat his final Venonat. He watched it struggle to stand up after it was hit with a Psychic attack, and then it collapsed onto the ground, unconscious. The boy rushed forward, picking the creature up and cradling it in his arms. There was something between these two, a bond that he hadn't seen many trainers have before. They were best friends, he could tell that without even speaking to them.

So when he looked up at him with a heartbroken expression, Koga felt _bad _for winning! Nothing had ever been able to move the somewhat stoic man like this before, so the feeling was somewhat strange to him. It wasn't necessarily a _bad _thing, just odd. He looked so upset and he knew that it wasn't even because he had lost, it was because that his Pikachu had fainted. The boy seemed so concerned about the wellbeing of the creature, and even made Koga worry. What if it died? He knew that it would absolutely kill the guy. Never before in his life had he seen someone quite so compassionate.

"Well, good match," He said, extending his hand awkwardly for him to shake. The boy took it, smiling up at him. It was a forced smile, he could tell because his eyes kept darting down to the little creature in his arms. "Er, what's your name, by the way?" He looked around quickly, and ended up pointing to a red pokeball painted on the wall. "Red?" He nodded and Koga smiled. He'd have to keep a lookout for this name, he knew that the boy would achieve great things if he was able to defeat him. "It was a good fight, and I hope you come back,"

Red nodded again and then turned away from him, waving over his shoulder as he exited the gym. Well, that was one of the strangest encounters Koga had ever had. The boy was so silent, yet not deaf. He admired his self-control with not having the urge to speak at all. Being a ninja himself, he found patience and control very important virtues, and Red's was quite...inspiring. Maybe he'd have to base some of his training methods around silence? And speaking of training methods, were his students really that weak that Red went through them so easily, yet lost against him? He'd definitely have to up their schedules.

But now he had nothing to do again, so he leant back against one of the walls to wait out the rest of his working day. Oh, wait. There was Venomoth's wounds to tend to, now that would be fun.

* * *

"Goodnight, Janine," Koga bent over and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "Don't worry about your loss against that kid in the gym today, you're still just a student, you'll get better,"

"I know," She replied, pulling herself further under the covers. "He was just really strong, I can't imagine myself ever being like that,"

"You'll get there, you're still young," She _was_ younger than Red was, which is why she was just a student under him still. Legally she wasn't allowed to go out and be a wandering trainer, so she worked with him in the gym along with lots of other kids her age.

She nodded, smiling. "Goodnight, dad,"

He walked out of the room, flicking the light off and closing the door just before he left. Today had been his daughter's first proper loss in quite a while, and she had been feeling a little sore about it for the rest of the day. Seeing her upset had made him unhappy, and despite being the gym leader of Fuchsia and a ninja 'master', being a good father came before all of those. Janine had gone to bed smiling, and that made him feel better about the whole thing.

Their house was on top of the gym, so he didn't have far to go in the mornings for work, which was rather handy. But besides this convenience, he also really liked the view. Because it was on the second storey, they could see all of Fuchsia from their windows. Not only that, but the ocean stretched out in front of them too, and if it was a really sunny day, you could see the Seafoam Islands. The gym had never originally had a house on top of it, but when Koga was promoted to the leader, his wife had decided to build. It was a better idea that the apartment they had been living in, and it had been no place to raise a child.

He stopped halfway down the hallway to look out over his city. He did this every night, just to appreciate the place he lived and his region. Plus, it was somewhat of a breathtaking sight, Fuchsia with all it's lights on. His gaze shifted down to the beach because his attention had been caught by a figure standing along the shore. No one was usually out this late down by the water, so he briefly wondered what they were doing out alone in the dark. What if they needed help? (His mind always seemed to go to the more extreme possibility) As the strongest trainer in Fuchsia, it was his duty to protect people.

But no, they didn't need help. Once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness outside, he noticed that the figure was Red and he was training his pokemon down on the sand. Koga couldn't really tell what he was doing, but he had his Charmeleon out and was battling something. Probably something he'd fished out of the water, because it was clever to train against something your pokemon was weak against.

He waited for a little while longer, watching what was going on. Red was so determined to be a better trainer, and he found this quite interesting. He hadn't met someone that was so committed to defeating him, as conceited as that sounded. But he didn't mind, and he almost _hoped _that he would come back and win, he deserved it. Koga bet that he faced quite a lot of descrimination from people, just because he didn't talk. People were so cruel, and he thought that if they trained in ninjitsu like he did (to learn patience), then maybe they wouldn't be.

Koga was really quite into being a ninja, if you hadn't noticed.

Suddenly, a white light shone out from where Red was standing, and startled both the young boy and the gym leader. It was coming from his Charmeleon, which had now disappeared, completely enveloped in this white light. A smile spread across Koga's face, he'd seen this all too many times, but it still fascinated him. If he hadn't become a trainer, then he probably would have studied pokemon evolution, it was a secret interest of his. Speaking of, he had meant to go and visit Professor Elm in Johto for a while now, he was an expert on such things.

The white light was now fading away, and in Charmeleon's place stood a much larger creature. A Charizard. He turned away from the window here and started back down the corridor. It was getting quite late, and he had to be up early for work in the gym again. But he was smiling to himself, glad that he had been able to see the evolution. He had a feeling that this was quite a milestone in Red's journey as a trainer.

* * *

"Welcome back, kid," He announced, not at all surprised that Red was challenging him again. "I knew you'd return, and I'm happy to battle you right now for the Soul Badge," Red nodded, pulling out a pokeball. Koga did the same, releasing Venomoth into the air. It hissed slightly, not out of malice, but as a sign Koga knew as it being ready for battle. Charizard appeared opposite them, hissing back in retaliation. Venomoth didn't seem to recognise this massive creature as being the one it fought yesterday, which Koga couldn't decide whether it was a good or a bad thing. "Use Psychic,"

* * *

"Good job, Red," Koga stuck out his hand and Red shook it again. "You really deserve to win, you're a talented trainer," He fished around in his pocket and pulled out the Soul Badge, handing it over to the young boy. This was the only time he had been happy to give out one of these, and Red's appreciative smile made it better. Seriously, he'd never seen someone quite so happy to have won before, he was _overjoyed_. Yet he still didn't say a word.

He inspected the badge for a moment before suddenly reaching into his own pockets and pulling out a small piece of paper and a pen. He leant on his thigh (and seemed to wince visibly when he did so, how odd) and scribbled something on the paper. He then clicked the pen closed and handed it over to Koga, who opened it. Inside _thank you _was written, and when he looked up to tell Red that it was okay, he found him striding out of the gym, a huge grin plastered on his face.


	34. Interlude 3

Gah, my writing has gone so downhill in the past month, so I sincerely apologise. It's school! It's given me such a creativity block! I come home every day, and then I suddenly can't put words together anymore. It's quite annoying. But next chapter I've been planning in my head for a week or so, so hopefully it will be written a bit better.

* * *

**Interlude #3**

* * *

**Age 11**

* * *

Red's mother walked into the kitchen with the intention of making dinner for herself and her son. She had no idea _what _she was going to cook, as their cupboards were rather bare at the moment, but she'd throw something together. She really did mean to make nicer food for Red, but they weren't in the best position financially to be able to afford all that fancy food. They'd probably end up having soup or something, it was easy to make and they did have vegetables.

She took two steps into the room, and then stopped, all the plans for dinner evaporating right then and there. Red was sitting at the kitchen table, slumped over with his head resting on his arms. Oh God, was he upset? Was he sick? Was he hurt? What had happened? She knew that she was overreacting (he was just sitting at the table after all, even if it was in an odd position), but she couldn't help worrying. He was her only child, and if anything bad ever happened to him, she'd be absolutely heartbroken. What would she do if anything ever did?

"Red," She asked nervously, stepping over and placing her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay, dear?"

_'Oh yeah,' _He sat up immediately. _'I'm just a little tired is all,' _She breathed a sigh of relief, he was just _tired_, nothing bad had happened. Oh, how she worried about him. But she figured she had right to, he didn't talk so there was no way he could tell others if he was in trouble, and he was her son. Any loving mother would do the same.

"Thank goodness," She smiled, able to relax now. "I was just a little worried about you,"

_'You don't need to be,' _Red stood up, attempting to reassure her, even though she was fine now. _'When have I ever gotten into trouble before?'_

"Well," She resumed walking into the kitchen, opening the cupboards and scouring around for ingredients needed to make soup. "There was that time you got into a fight with Tom, and when you fell off the swing where you were seven, and then that ti-"

_'Yeah, shush,' _He interrupted, grinning sheepishly. _'That's never been serious trouble, mum,' _He was following her around the kitchen now, watching the food she was taking out. Either he wanted to spend time with his dear old mother, or he just wanted to know what dinner was going to be. She was going with the latter.

She pulled out the potatoes from the bag and placed them on the bench, beginning to peel each one. She'd gotten about half way through the first one when she suddenly had an idea on how to make the whole process faster. "You know what?" She passed the peeler to him. "Since you're just standing there watching, you can peel the potatoes for me,"

Red made a face, but took the peeler anyway. _'Aw, mum, it's boring though,' _He protested, but it didn't really work considering he'd already started the task. She chuckled at his complaining, he always whined whenever she asked him to help her cook. She'd usually make him help every night anyway, so she didn't really see why he felt the need to kick up a fuss whenever she did. It was quite entertaining, his reluctance. But what was she complaining about? He was helping, wasn't he?

They worked in silence for a while, Red peeling the potatoes and her chopping up the leek and various other vegetables that would be in the soup. Their household was usually silent like this, and it was _usually _comfortable. So when something wasn't right, she could tell straight away. And as such, something was a little different today. His eyes kept darting towards her, and whenever she'd look at him, he'd pretend to be focused on the task. Something was up, and she _knew _she'd been right when he had been slumped on the table. He _never _did that.

"Okay, Red, what's wrong?"

He didn't answer straight away, and this just furthered the confirmation of her hunch. Slowly, he began to answer, but sped up towards the end of the sentence. _'Why don't people like me, mum?'_

She dropped the knife she'd been using onto the chopping board in surprise. Well, she certainly hadn't expected _that _answer. He was looking at her now and frowning, obviously picking up on her surprise. She should probably reply, otherwise he'd be completely discouraged. But she was rather hesistant to answer, because she didn't exactly know what to say. So she threw together a reply. "What are you talking about? Everyone likes you," She was hoping that this answer would be enough just like it had been when he was younger.

_'You don't need to say that,' _He said, keeping his eyes down on the potatoes. _'I'm eleven now, I understand things a bit better than I did when I was six,' _It didn't come as a surprise that he didn't believe her, and she sighed, unhappy that her son was now realising the unfairness of the world. She had tried to keep him protected, and until now it had worked, but she knew he'd find it out sooner or later. Plus he did have a good point, he wasn't a little kid anymore.

"I know you do," She set down the things she was doing and turned to face Red. "What happened to bring this on?"

_'Nothing really,' _He still wouldn't meet her gaze. _'It's just...people avoid me because I don't talk. I don't understand it,'_

She really hated the fact that her son had to go through so much just because he didn't speak, it just wasn't fair! He was a good person, yet they didn't see that and just saw him as strange and not...normal. It pained her whenever she saw him sitting alone in the park, or standing just outside a circle of people. When he had Green it hadn't been so bad, but since their falling out, Red didn't really have anyone his own age. "I'm really sorry,"

_'Why are you apologising, mum? It's not your fault. I just don't get it though. There's nothing wrong with me,'_

"Of course there isn't, sweetie," She walked over to the kitchen table and took a seat, motioning for him to come and join her. He did, sitting down in the seat opposite. "If there's something you should know about Pallet Town, it's that the people here are really small minded,"

She had experienced this first hand, and ever since had hoped that Red would never be subject to it. The first time she saw how nasty a small town could be was when she was pregnant. She was only nineteen, and as she walked through the streets, she got cast disapproving stares. At first she had tried to ignore it, but then she heard some women gossiping about her she realised that no, people weren't nice. The second time she'd come across it was when Red was diagnosed as mute. People around the town looked down on her, deeming her a bad parent just because she was young. They didn't realise that it wasn't her fault and there was nothing wrong with her son.

_'What does that mean?' _He asked.

She smiled, but it was melancholy. He was a very clever eleven year old, but there were still some things he didn't know. She hesitated in answering though, because she wasn't really sure how to explain it. Plus, she didn't want to get her own feelings involved, that would only make things worse. Part of her was still trying to protect her son from the harsh realities of life, even though she knew full well that he had experienced them for a while now. He just hadn't really realised it. "Small minded people are people that aren't willing to accept others that may be a little different to them, even if they're perfectly good people like us,"

_'That's kind of...' _She could see him struggling to find an appropriate word. _'Immature,'_

"It is," She nodded. "I've seen how the other kids treat you, Red, and I'm really sorry you have to go through that. It seems all the judgemental people flock to small towns," He didn't look very reassured yet, and in fact, he looked like he was going to burst into tears. So she continued hurriedly, trying to cheer him up. "But when you go travelling, you're going to meet all sorts of people that like you for who you are, they won't judge you because you don't speak,"

His expression brightened up considerably at this, and it made her smile. She hated it when Red was unhappy, so it was nice to see him smile after their...unpleasant conversation. _'So, if I become a trainer, I won't be ignored?' _Though he was happy, it was asked quietly. _Almost _as if he was afraid the answer would be negative.

She shook her head. "There are good people out there, dear, but sometimes they're just harder to spot than the bad ones,"

His smile got wider, turning into a full grin now. _'I can't wait!' _He cheered. _'I can't believe I have for ages though, this sucks,' _It wasn't fair that he had to put up with all the judgements from people of Pallet Town either, he was just a child, for goodness sake, but she knew that he'd be able to get through it. He was a strong kid, and he was going to make a great trainer. She could tell that already. He knew the difference between right and wrong, so there was no worry in him being influenced by others. She'd raised him to be a good person, and so far he'd been doing pretty well.

She stood up and resumed her chopping up of the leek. She was happy now though, feeling as if she'd reached him, and made him feel better about himself. She never wanted him upset, and what he had to go through wasn't fair. But right now, she wouldn't worry about it. He seemed content, and together they made a perfect little family. "I'll finish making dinner," She called over her shoulder. "Don't worry about helping tonight, you can go and do whatever you'd like,"

* * *

_'Mum was my biggest inspiration,' _Red chuckled, a little embarrassed. _'It was times like this when I would wonder why I was always excluded that she'd explain the world to me. From her advice, I'd piece together life and I suppose that drove me the most when I was travelling. She told me that there were bad people in the world, but for everyone one of them, there were at least two good people,'_


	35. Fuchsia City 4

**Chapter 32: Cold**

"I know it was really tough for him," Red's mother stared down into her lap nervously. "But it was tough for me too. I didn't tell him about all the crap I received about Red not talking. All the other women thought I was a bad parent and that I had no idea how to raise a child, and that was really a harsh thing to go through. Even the strongest people can be broken down by the petty judgements of others if they persist,"

* * *

Red took a cautious step along the pipeline, holding his arms out so he would balance and not fall into the water below. After defeating Koga, he didn't know what to do with the rest of his day, so he just came down onto the beach. It was from here that he spotted the long, wide pipe that ran about fifty metres into the ocean and then dipped below said water, finishing underground most likely. He didn't know where the beginning was, and when he turned around to have a look for it, it just seemed to stretch into the distance. He wondered how he hadn't noticed it before, it ran right through Fuchsia. Actually, that was a lie, it was on the outskirts, so he probably did have an excuse not to have seen it before.

But for some reason (boredom, most likely), he'd decided to walk along the pipe and see how far he could get. He was about halfway out now, and each step he took was becoming more unsteady than the last. It was probably because he had started to think about how far he'd actually come out, and was now super concentrated on not falling into the water. It was winter, not the ideal time for swimming. But if you overthink something, you're bound to do it.

Pikachu was walking behind him, but the little mouse wasn't having nearly as much trouble as he was. He figured it was because it was a whole lot smaller than he was, and it walked on four legs, not two. He took another step, and this one was the worst yet. He felt his feet slip and he wobbled, shaking his arms up and down to try and re-gain his balance. He was aware he looked incredibly goofy, but he didn't mind because it _was _better than getting wet. He managed to get his footing back, but unfortunately Pikachu hadn't been watching him and did not see him stop. So the little creature had walked right on into him, bumping his legs and making him lose his balance again.

This time it was too large of a nudge to steady himself, and he fell straight into the ocean below. Oh well, he sighed as he hit the water, it was probably inevitable anyway.

But that didn't mean that it wasn't cold, because it was. It was freezing. Seriously, it felt like ice or something. Red resurfaced, pulling his bag over to him which had fallen off his back and was beginning to float away. Well this was great, everything was wet, all his clothes, items and the pokeballs. He'd have nothing to do until it all dried, which really wasn't helpful. And he'd have nothing to change into, _again. _He looked up at Pikachu who was watching him from the pipeline, smiling sheepishly. Red frowned back at it - he felt like pulling it into the water with him.

Once the initial shock had worn off, Red found himself not so annoyed anymore. It had been quite a while since he'd gone swimming in the ocean, about seven or so months actually, and he'd missed it. Even though it was awfully cold and he was shivering like mad, he liked it. He let himself float on his back for a moment, closing his eyes and letting the waves bob him up and down. He could fall asleep like this, it wouldn't be hard. But that probably wasn't a good idea.

_'Come on, Pikachu,' _He called to the creature who was still watching him nervously. _'We should probably head to the shore, it's kind of cold,'_

Red began slowly swimming towards the town, a little frozen because of how cold it was. He liked to downplay these things, but really, he was freezing. But there was one good thing about this which he noticed, and that was that his leg didn't hurt anymore. Whether it was because of swimming or just because it was getting better, he didn't know, but also didn't mind. As long as nothing was hurting, then everything was okay with him.

After about twenty minutes (which really should have taken him about ten if he had been going at a normal pace), he managed to drag himself up to the shoreline. He sat on his hands and knees for a moment, trying to catch his breath and warm up. He thought that the constant swimming would have at least done something to warm him up, but if anything, he'd just gotten colder. That probably wasn't healthy, but he disregarded it. The important thing was that he was now out of the water. He stood up, and looked out into the distance, watching the horizon and shaking. He tried to hug himself around the waist to try and trap any sort of warmth in, but it just made his wet shirt stick to his chest in an uncomfortable manner.

"Hey, kid!" He whirled around and saw a man running towards him, waving his arms frantically in the air. He had a Pikachu sitting on his shoulder, and this surprised him a little. He hadn't really come across any other trainers with a Pikachu (besides Surge). "Are you okay? I saw you fall into the water," Red stared back at him, not really sure how to answer. The man seemed a little put off (well, he took a step back, so it was somewhat obvious) when he didn't receive an answer. "Er, you look cold," He mumbled, taking a note of Red's blue lips and chattering teeth. "I'm the lifeguard here, do you want to come and warm up in my station over there?" Red nodded, willing to try anything that would warm him up. He felt awful, walking along that pipe had been the stupidest idea he'd ever had.

He followed the man to his cabin along the beach, and when he was let inside, he felt this sudden warmth flood through him. He was still cold, but the temperature of the house was _so _nice. He'd never been more grateful for somewhere warm in his life, and he didn't think he ever would be again. Once he'd thawed out a little, he looked around the building (as he was able to concentrate on something other than shivering) and noticed all the surfing memorabilia. There were trophies and medals on his mantleplace, and along the walls were photos of the same guy holding a surfboard, shaking hands with different people. One of the photos was different though, it was the man standing with a kid that looked a few years younger than him (perhaps eleven), both holding surfboards. They looked similar, maybe they were related? But judging from all the decorations, Red had a slight hunch this guy was a surfer.

"I'm Victor," He said, sticking out his hand for Red to shake. He took it nervously, worried because his hands wouldn't stop shuddering. "Oh, Jesus," He exclaimed suddenly, making Red jump. "Your hands are freezing. Stay right there, I'll get a towel or something for you,"

This whole time, Red couldn't help staring at his Pikachu, and he knew his was watching it too. It's eyes were bright blue and were _almost _eerie. Quite different to every other Pikachu he'd run into who all had dark brown eyes. But that wasn't the only thing that was different about it - it was more...rugged? Just as if it had experienced many years of living by the ocean. Living right on the shoreline like this was sure to ruffle up anyone, pokemon or person. The creature just looked wise, was that the right term?

Victor rushed into another room, and then came back out a few moments later, holding out a towel for him. He took it and wrapped it around his shoulders. It would be soaked through soon, but as long as he was feeling warm now, then it was okay, right?

"It was pretty impressive that you were able to swim back to land from that distance," Victor commented. "Most people can't manage even ten metres, and the waves were pretty high today. You must be a surfer," Red knew that he was trying to make conversation, but he also knew that it wasn't going to work. So he just looked up at him still because he couldn't answer. "Are you okay?" He asked when once again, when met with silence.

Red nodded at first, but then thought better and pointed to his throat and shook his head. Victor didn't seem to understand, so he tried again, making larger gestures to his throat and shaking his head very purposely. Eventually realisation seemed to dawn on Victor, and his eyes widened quite noticeably. _Finally!_

"Oh, you can't speak!" He commented, his hand flying to his mouth. "You can, uh...use the whiteboard over there to write down what you want to say, if you'd like," He tilted his head towards said whiteboard which was hanging very obviously on the wall. Red wondered how he hadn't noticed this before, but walked over to it and picked up the marker. "I run a surf school here, so that's why I have one," He chuckled absentmindedly.

Well, now he didn't really have anything to say. So he just wrote _'I'm Red,' _on the board and then grinned. Though he found this latter part difficult, his teeth were still chattering. Surely that wasn't a good sign, he was in a warm house now, wrapped up in a towel.

"Hey, Red,"

_'I've never surfed before,' _He wrote sheepishly. God, his writing was awful today. He blamed it on his shaky hands. _'I've just lived by the sea my whole life, so I suppose that's why I could swim back today,'_

"I can tell," Victor had taken a seat in one of his armchairs and his Pikachu had jumped off his shoulder and was standing opposite his, watching it cautiously. "It's not going to hurt you, Puka," He directed his attention down to the two creatures, smiling gently.

_'Go on, Pikachu,' _Red switched to sign language and was really relieved to have. Writing was so much more inconvenient. Pikachu nodded, and made a small noise that indicated greeting. Puka (Red assumed it was called that) replied and soon the two of them were nattering away in their own language.

"So, where are you from, Red?" Victor turned back towards him.

_'Pallet Town,'_

"Dude, seriously?" Red nodded, but it wasn't really a question, just more of a statement. "The ocean there is killer, no wonder you could swim back so easily today!" Red chuckled silently at this because Victor's speech pattern had changed. It seemed that whenever he talked about the sea, then he'd become less professional, and more of a 'surfer'. It was entertaining at least. "You can sit down if you'd like," He pointed to the other armchair opposite him. Red was rather hesitant because he was still soaking wet, but Victor insisted. It was nice to be able to sit down though, he'd been standing up for longer than he'd thought.

There was silence now, because Red couldn't talk to him without the whiteboard (which was on the other side of the room). But it was a little awkward and Red wanted to break it as soon as possible. He didn't like awkward silences at all. He glanced around the room for a conversation point and came across that picture he'd seen earlier of him and the kid. That ought to have some sort of story attached to it. He pointed towards it, and a big grin came across Victor's face.

"That's me and my son, Leslie," He said. Wow, that was surprising. Victor only looked like he was in his late twenties, and he had a child already. Mind you, his mother had been in the same situation, so he did keep an open mind about such things. But _that _was why they looked so similar. "He's eleven right now, and him and my wife are over in Cinnabar. He's competing in a big surfing competition. I would go, but I have to stay here because of my job," He looked a little sad when he said that, and Red could tell that he really wanted to be out there surfing with his son.

It was nice to meet someone likeminded about the ocean though, even if they couldn't really talk about it together. Victor was still chatting away about surfing competitions and his son, and Red was glad for this. It meant he didn't have to try and make anymore conversation (he didn't like doing that), and plus, he liked hearing stories about the ocean. They made him almost as happy as being near the water himself, and right now he had both.

His clothes had were just about dry now, but he was still shivering. He wasn't cold, yet he couldn't stop himself from shaking. That couldn't be healthy, could it? He sighed, just as he was starting to feel better after getting a burn, he had to go and get hypothermia or something. He really knew how to look after himself, didn't he? He blamed it on his inability to judge the consequences of his actions, because whenever he did something, there always seemed to be a negative effect from it. He had told himself before he left Pallet that he would start thinking about the choices he would make, but so far he hadn't. This was made evident by his run-ins with Team Rocket and the several times he got caught out in the rain.

But shaking so much had tired him out, and he suddenly felt sleepy. Maybe it was because the room was so warm and the quiet crashing of the waves outside was almost hypnotic as well? Whatever it was, it made him feel exhausted. Victor was still chatting away about some giant wave he'd "caught" once, and Red accidentally (he couldn't help it, his eyes closed themselves) slipped into sleep.

* * *

Red awoke with a start because Pikachu had nudged his leg. He looked around the room, trying to remember where he was and then remembered he was in Victor's house. But Victor wasn't in the room with him. Well, now he felt a little silly, he'd just fallen asleep in the middle of some guy's room he hardly knew and created puddles of sea water on his ground. What a polite guest. But he wasn't shivering anymore, and the goosebumps that had been on his arms were gone. That was nice.

He stood up and stretched his arms out, trying to cover his embarrassment of just crashing into this guy's house. It was getting late too, it was dark outside and he guessed it was probably around seven. He should be getting back to the Pokecentre. He grabbed his bag and made his way over to the whiteboard, planning to write goodbye to Victor before he left. He grabbed the pen and then looked up at it. It was already covered in writing that wasn't his. He stepped backwards so he could read it properly.

_Red, you asked for the quickest route to Cinnabar from Fuchsia in your sleep, so I've drawn a map for you below. It might take about a week to get there, but it's the shortest way._

_Also, you spoke in your sleep. You spoke._

_- Victor_

Red studied the diagram below. Apparently he had to go east from Fuchsia until he got to a large bridge across some water. From there he'd have to go north into Lavender, then west until he got to Saffron again. From Saffron, he'd have to travel south to Vermilion. In Vermilion, there was something called Diglett's cave, which would lead to the route just below Pewter City. Then he'd just have to go south through Viridan until he got back down to Pallet. It was quite a hike, and he was little annoyed that there was no shorter way. But at least he'd be able to visit his mother for a while, he knew she missed him. And though he'd never admit it (he was a teenage boy after all), he missed her a little too.

But what concerned him more was that apparently he had said something in his sleep. No one had ever told him he'd talked in his sleep before, so surely it was just that time. He hoped so, he didn't want to talk, he liked being silent. So why had he talked?

Why?

_Thank you for your hospitality, Victor. I really appreciate it, and I'm sorry I fell asleep. I didn't mean to, I just couldn't seem to help it._

_See you around._

_- Red_

He quickly scrawled that underneath Victor's message and pulled his bag back onto his back. It had slipped down without him noticing. _'Let's go, Pikachu,' _He whispered and the two of them quietly crept out the lifeguard station/Victor's house and out into the night air. It was a little creepy being here at night, and he soon found himself running towards the town, his sights set on the Pokecentre.

* * *

**Okay, Victor! He isn't an OC, he's actually from an episode of the anime! He's from the episode with the giant wave, Humungadunga or something, and he wants to surf it. It's called the Pi-Kahuna, look it up if you don't believe me :P**

**Also, in Yellow, he actually has a house on that route below Fuchsia, so none of this is made up!**


	36. Route 15

You better feel lucky, I'm skiving off studying to write this :P Well, I'm just procrastinating it, ech! Also, sorry about slower updates, as I've said, school gets in the way and I have my final year exams coming up soon. Stress, eeeeeeeee.

Also, I've been not looking forward to writing this chapter at all, filler ones are so boring to write and they really don't have anything interesting happen in them. But I slog through them and hopefully they come out alright. The next chapter ought to be a bit more interesting.

* * *

**Chapter 33: So Much Travel**

"When travelling, I learnt quite a bit about the world," Green said. "Good things and bad things. I figured out that it's not very nice to behave arrogantly and to always boast to everyone you meet about how good you are, because that will not make you very well liked. So in that respect, I think I changed a little," He laughed. "I also learnt that most people are genuinely nice, and that they do want to help and be as hospitable as possible. Of course there are not so nice people, and that was the bad thing I learnt. The unacceptance and intolerance was the worst, and I got to understand Red a little better through this. I think trying to take on Team Rocket was really the learning curve for me,"

* * *

**Day 1**

Red placed everything back into his bag, but paused when he picked up his trainer case. There were six colourful badges sitting inside, gleaming whenever they caught the sunlight streaming in through the window. He couldn't believe he had six, six! It didn't seem real yet. Surely little old Red couldn't have beaten three quarters of the toughest trainers in Kanto, it just didn't seem right. Yet these badges were saying otherwise. And another thing - it had gone so quickly! It seemed like it was just yesterday that he had left Pallet Town, complaining about being given a wild pokemon and not sure what to do. But look how far he'd come now, he'd visited most of the region already.

He was really proud of himself though, there was no doubting that. He just couldn't believe he'd gotten six of the qualifying badges, he only had two left. In his mind, he still couldn't see himself progressing beyond Viridian City, even though he was just about to leave Fuchsia now. He still had this mental image of not actually being a decent trainer, even though he _did _have _six _badges. Even though he didn't have a lot of confidence in himself, he figured that was okay because he didn't want to be arrogant. If he did believe he was a great trainer, then maybe he'd be like Green. Whenever he thought about the gyms, he remembered how close he was to the Pokemon League, and that always made him jump up and down in excitement.

Speaking of that, Red found himself so close to what he wanted, yet still so far at the same time, because now he had to travel all the way back to where he began, and then even further south than that. It had taken him six-odd months to get to Fuchsia, and now he was trying to get to Pallet in a week (he wanted to get to the next gym as soon as he could). It didn't seem possible, but he consoled himself with the fact that he had taken a very roundabout way to get here (with many detours). He'd get to Pallet eventually though, and that's all that mattered, right?

Red had mixed feelings about returning to Pallet. It was his home and he was really looking forward to that familiarity and comfort of knowing everything around him (and where it all was, getting lost in a city frustrated him to no end sometimes). As much as he did love travelling, he would get a little homesick occasionally (he was only fourteen, remember?), and he would never admite it, he did miss his mother sometimes. But on the other hand, the town had been rather cruel to him over the years and he didn't much feel like returning to the stares and judgements. Mind you, he'd been on the news, so they would have all seen how far he'd come.

With that final thought he smiled to himself. It would be nice to return home for a little.

He placed his trainer case into his bag and then swung it over his shoulders. It was about ten in the morning and about high time he actually made a move on. Sitting around the Pokecentre would not get him any closer to the next gym. He stood up, ushering Pikachu to do the same and then made his way outside. Okay, so the Pokecentre was facing south and he had to travel east for quite a while. That meant...he spun around and pointed towards the big pipe, that he would have to walk in that direction.

* * *

**Day 2**

Red sat up groggily, rubbing his eyes. Sleeping in the middle of a forest in winter wasn't very pleasant, especially when you didn't have a jacket or anything. If that wasn't strange enough, what weirded him out the most was that he had dreamt he was playing basketball with Mia. Since their very first meeting, she'd always been on his mind. Maybe she wasn't always the first thing he was thinking about, but she was always there, just in the back, smiling. For some reason, he had wished that she would just stay with him and travel, which was strange because he usually preferred to be alone. He'd first pinned the reason down to just being so far away from home and wanting company, but now he was a little worried it was something else. She was a good friend, but a different sort of friend than Green was. In his mind, he thought of her differenly. He just couldn't figure out what constituted such difference.

He stood up and took his mind off such troubling thoughts by rolling up his sleeping bag and placing it inside his regular bag. From here, he continued exactly where he had left off yesterday, and that was walking through the masses of trees. It was quite a lovely area, and even though there wasn't much to do besides walk, he had been enjoying it. It hadn't been as dull as he'd expected and it had given him time to think. He'd replayed all his gym battles over in his mind, judging where he had gone right or wrong. Training and Mia were really the only things on his mind at the moment.

Such things played on his mind so often that he didn't realise that he'd been walking for about three hours without taking much of a break. His legs were hurting and the grumbles in his stomach were ever increasing in volume. He hoped to get to Lavender Town by the end of the day and get some proper to eat, but so far there was no water in sight. Surely he should have gotten to Route 12 by now? He stopped in the middle of his pathway and stared into the distance. He saw trees just stretching on and on, so he concluded that he was lost.

This discovery frightened the poor boy and visions of just endlessly wandering around and never being found played around in his mind. This started to stress him out and he could feel his hands shaking and his breathing becoming rapid. He didn't want to die alone and never be found! Of course, in hindsight, this was a silly thing to think, but he always jumped to ridiculous conclusions.

_'Deep breaths, Red,' _He told himself as he slumped against a tree, forehead resting on the trunk. He didn't know where to go or what to do, and this just seemed to further scare him and he felt like crying. Never before had he felt so alone, and he didn't know why he was now.

After about ten minutes of breaking down, he shakily told himself that he was being stupid and he wasn't helping the situation at all. He'd just get stuck out here if he didn't keep walking, because the forest didn't just go on forever, it had to lead _somewhere. _Slowly and nervously, he took a step away from the tree and turned away from it. Nothing had changed, but the trees suddenly seemed so much taller and he felt really daunted. Pikachu nudged his leg in concern, so he smiled worriedly at the creature before picking it up and placing it on his shoulder.

_'Which way should we go, buddy?' _He asked figuring that whatever way they went, they were bound to get somewhere. Pikachu pointed a little more north than where they were headed now and Red shrugged in response. He might as well.

* * *

Almost there! Just about at the top! Red took a few unsteady steps (he was breathless, he'd been walking for too long!) and then finally rounded the top of the hill. And well, now he wasn't so lost because he could see a city below. It wasn't Lavender Town though, like he'd orginally planned to go to, it was...Celadon. He could tell this because of the huge department store just sitting there. It was a lovely view though, all the lights were on because it was evening and people were out and about walking the streets. It seemed so alive, and Red had never been gladder to see a city in his life.

He wasn't lost! He wasn't going to die! And he'd found a rather handy path between Celadon and Fuchsia.

* * *

**Day 5**

Red could see the Vermilion harbor now. He broke into a sprint without really thinking about what he was doing and headed down to the shore. As he was running along the sand, he pulled out Lapras and Wartortle's pokeballs and released them into the water. He then threw their balls onto the ground, pulled off his own shirt and dived in with them. It was freezing (not as cold as Fuchsia though, that was further south and therefore colder), but worth it. He'd missed the water.

You would have thought he'd have learnt from falling into the water in Fuchsia, but no, he seemed to forget how cold he had been that day. He dipped his head beneath the water and kicked his feet, swimming over to where Lapras and Wartortle were. Whenever he took them to some water he always felt a little guilty for not taking them more frequently, because they just looked so content floating around. Well, Lapras was floating and Wartortle was swimming in circles. He grinned, happy for them, and Wartortle smiled back.

He was only able to stay in the water for about ten minutes or so before it became too cold and he had to get out and wrap his vest around him. He wished he had a towel, but was glad that this time all his clothes weren't wet. He was uncomfortable, but it had been worth it. Not only had he liked being in the water, it made him glad to see his pokemon enjoying themselves so much.

He took a seat on the sand and Pikachu sat on his lap. Together they watched Lapras and Wartortle fool about in the water, appearing completely at home. It was times like this that Red really appreciated his team, they were all such good friends and (even though he sounded like a sap) he felt really lucky to have them. People often underestimated pokemon as companions, often seeing them just for battling and not for company. Sure, Red _did _fight with them, but he was also friends with them and that, he felt was the key to being a decent trainer. It saddened him a little when he thought of people not treating their pokemon as friends.

Eventually (because he got too cold) Red picked up his things and recalled his pokemon into their balls. He felt a little bad tearing them away from the water like this, but he really needed to go change because he was freezing. Involuntarily, he began jogging again and made his way to the familiar Pokecentre. Being back in Vermilion was really weird as he'd thought it would be. Wherever he went, he just kept thinking of all that time ago on the S.S Anne and fighting Lieutenant Surge. It seemed everywhere he went to more than once on his journey felt odd like this, and he hoped that when he travelled in the future it kind of didn't. It was an unsettling feeling.

But he just figured it was because he hadn't beaten all the gyms and it felt like somewhat of a regression.

Red walked up to the front counter of the Pokecentre and pointed to the sets of keys hanging on the wall behind it. It was still the afternoon so there were several rooms left to rent. Thankfully the nurse understood what he meant (it was _so _frustrating when they didn't) and she handed him a set. He smiled in thanks and then headed up the stairs towards said room. He unlocked the door, walked inside, closed it and then hopped around awkwardly trying to change his pants. They were still soaking from the ocean and made the room smell like salt.

Once he'd pulled a dry set on, he suddenly felt really tired. He curled up on the bed, fully intending just to "rest his eyes" for a minute, but when he opened them again, it had been about five hours.

* * *

**Day 7**

He was so close to home, he could see the oh-so familiar trees in the distance. Just a few more steps up the path until he reached the top of the hill and...there! He was overlooking Pallet Town now, and the feeling was strange. It was so familiar, yet it didn't seem quite right anymore. It was his home still, _right_? There was Professor Oak's lab, and the park that he and Green had spent so many hours at! And then the beach, he could see the water from here, and it was the only thing that felt the same. At least he had that.

And then he fixed his gaze onto _his _house. He stared at it for a moment, and then began running at full speed down the hill. His pulse was rushing, but he felt almost electric, _excited._ He may not have missed the town, but now seeing his home again, he realised how much he had really missed that. He had been homesick sometimes, there was no denying that, and now, well, he was here!


	37. Pallet Town

So, uh, I think is a bit buggy because apparently none of you have received notifications saying I've updated. But hey, here's two new chapters, so hopefully you get an email for this one!

Gah, school! I hate it, it gets in the way of my writing. Waaaaah :( Especially drama and history, yecccchhh.

* * *

**Chapter 34: Home**

"Red's surprise visit home was one of the happiest days of my life," His mum smiled wistfully. "I hadn't seen my son in six months, and then he turns up at home out of the blue! It was just like old times, and well, hearing about all his travels made me so proud of him,"

* * *

Red was about to run straight through his front door and go crashing into the house just like he had done all throughout his childhood, but as he approached the door he got a sudden onslaught of nerves and froze in his position. His mother wasn't expecting him home, and it'd be a little embarrassing when she opened the door and just saw him standing there. This had been his home, but was it still? Something just didn't feel quite right anymore.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself and then raised a shaky hand to knock on the door. The sound echoed around the neighbourhood (not really, but Red imagined that it did) and he waited nervously for his mother to open the door. Each second seemed to drag on forever, and he wondered why he felt so worried. This was his mother he was going to see, not some stranger. Speaking of, when he did have to visit unfamiliar buildings, he didn't get nervous at all, but with this confrontation he was. He figured that it was probably because he hadn't been home in six months, but it was still unsettling.

He could hear his mother's footsteps approaching the door, and he clenched his fists up nervously. The door opened slowly (once again, his imagination) and then swung open, revealing his mother, looking exactly the same as she had the day he'd left. Her eyes widened, and then a smile spread across her face.

"Red!" She pulled him into a hug and strangely enough, he found himself hugging her back. He'd missed home, he hadn't realised just how much though. His nerves were now completely gone and he felt at ease again. That was nice. "You've finally come to visit!"

He pulled away but was grinning, he was _so _glad to be back here. _'It's a bit hard to visit often when I'm across the other side of the region,' _He laughed.

"And who's this little guy?" She reached out to stroke the top of Pikachu's head. It purred softly, making her laugh.

_'This is Pikachu,' _He replied. _'And Pikachu, this is my mother,'_

"Hello there," She said softly, shaking it's paw. She then let go and directed her attention back towards Red. "Oh, I've missed you," She sighed. "You didn't call me enough while you were out there," She motioned for him to come inside and Red went and took a seat at the dining table. Being here after being away for so long felt strange and he found himself remembering all the times he'd spent just sitting here with his mother, talking about travelling and pokemon. It seemed like only yesterday, yet so much had passed. He'd beaten six gym leaders, defeated Team Rocket and met a new...friend. Speaking of Mia, he'd been meaning to ask his mother about her.

_'Mum, remember how I told you about that girl I met in Celadon who speaks sign language?' _He couldn't help smiling when he thought about Mia, and that worried him. He didn't like not knowing what was happening like this.

"Yeah, Mia, right?" She answered.

He nodded. _'I saw her again in Fuchsia City, and we played basketball and it was really fun. She has this really long hair that she usually wears in a ponytail and it looks cool because it matches her eyes. Did I tell you this already? Anyway, her family works for these organisations for deaf kids, so that's why she can sign. That's where we went in Fuchsia, to one of the schools. I got caught in the rain and she let me use the dryers there so my things wouldn't stay wet,' _He knew that he was blabbering and he felt like a fool, but he couldn't help it. _'What does it mean when you get butterflies in your stomach around someone?'_

Her face softened when he asked the last thing, and he couldn't work out why. "Do you get butterflies around Mia?"

_'Yes!' _He said, throwing his arms up in the air. When he realised how enthusiastic he'd been, he lowered them sheepishly, a little embarrassed. _'I've never gotten them around any other person before, so why is Mia different? I mean, it's not a bad thing, I just don't get it,'_

"Do you maybe like this girl?" She enquired, chuckling slightly at her son who's face was now flushing red.

_'I do not!' _He insisted, and then realising how immature this sounded, continued quietly. _'I mean, surely that's not it, right?'_

"Well, why not?," She shrugged, teasing him lightly. "But that's okay, I trust your judgement,"

Red was confused. He'd never had 'feelings' for anyone before and as such had no idea how to act on them. He knew he wasn't very romantic and would probably end up stumbling over his words and then making an idiot out of himself. The thought alone made him shudder and he didn't think he'd ever have the courage to ask her out. _'But what do I do then?' _His mother didn't answer though, she just smiled and shook her head slightly. _Real helpful, mum._

Red stood up and wandered out of the kitchen and up the stairs. He opened the door to his room and stood in the doorway for a moment, taking in the sight. _Nothing _had changed whatsoever besides his bed now being made. He laughed at that, remembering how he'd left it unmade when he'd rushed out to see Professor Oak the day he got Pikachu. His mother usually told him off for not making it himself, but he supposed that that was an exception. She knew how excited he had been about it. But besides that, everything was still in the same place. His books were strewn across his desk and the photos he had hanging up on his wall had gathered a little dust.

_'This is my room, Pikachu,' _He said to the little creature who was observing it's surroundings a little warily. _'I lived here before I met you,' _He took a seat on his bed and Pikachu followed, immediately snuggling into the pillows. Red looked around, it was lovely to be back in his room after being away for so long - everything was _his again. _His eyeline drifted to the view outside the window. He'd chosen this room purely for that, because it overlooked the ocean. If you craned your neck fair enough left you could see Oak's lab, but if you just looked forward, it was the ocean. This made him smile - no matter where he went in the world, he'd always believe that Pallet had the most beautiful sea.

He saw a flash of red in the corner of his eyes and he turned around to find the source. It was a colourful book sitting on his desk. He picked it up and inspected the cover, it had always been his favourite and he'd almost forgotten all about it while he was travelling. It was a story about pirates that sailed all around the region, fighting with their pokemon and finding all sorts of treasure. He opened to the first page and swung his legs onto the bed so he was leaning on his pillows. How many times had he read this before? He had a feeling it was around thirty-two times, but he couldn't be sure. He never got sick of it though, and found himself as swept up into the mystique of the story as if it was the first time.

* * *

Red closed the book, completely satisfied. He'd finished the whole story and made a mental note to take it along with him when he left for Cinnabar otherwise he'd want to read it but be unable to. He placed it down on his desk and nudged Pikachu awake. The little mouse whined at having to move, making Red laugh. It was so lazy, he wondered how it kept up with him sometimes. Maybe that's why it was so tired? It did have to do an awful lot more walking than he did. But he decided it didn't matter because it seemed healthy enough.

They made their way downstairs and Red stole a glance out the window. It was dark now, how long had he been reading for? It hadn't felt like _that _long. He wandered into the lounge room and found his mother sitting on the couch, reading something herself. If there was something that his mother and him did have in common, it was that they both liked reading. He blamed her for it actually, because she would always read to him before he went to bed each night when he was a little kid. Well, not _blame _as such, because he didn't really consider it a bad thing.

"Good evening, sleepy-head," She looked up when she saw him enter the room.

_'I wasn't sleeping,' _He answered, taking a seat next to her.

"Yes, you were," She replied, laughing. "I came into your room two hours ago and you were fast asleep on your bed,"

Red shook his head. _'No way,' _But it would make sense as to why it was so late now, that book didn't usually take him five hours to read. But even if he had fallen asleep, it couldn't have been for more than a few minutes otherwise he'd remember it. He decided not to argue though, it wasn't really something worth wasting his breath on. They fell into silence, his mother had resumed reading and he was staring out the window in front of him. He _was _glad to be home, but for some strange reason, he kind of wished he was in some unknown town, maybe even sleeping in the uncomfortable Pokecentre beds (or even the foyer, God forbid!). That had been his life for the past six months, so it was only a little natural to miss it, right? Right?

"You know, I saw you on the news a little while ago," His mother looked up from her book. "I'm really proud that you were able to defeat Team Rocket singlehandedly like that,"

_'Thank you,' _He replied. She had said something nice, but he knew that this was going to go somewhere bad and would probably result in him being told off.

"But I told you not to go after them, but you did it anyway," Yeah, there you go. "Usually I'd be disappointed, but you're fine and that's all that matters," Red's face broke into a grin, he had got off lightly for something that was so serious. His mother was the best. But then he remembered the burn on his leg and his face fell slightly, surely he'd get in trouble if she found out about that. But Red couldn't hide anything from his mother, they told each other everything, so he found himself rolling up his right leg of his pants despite the repercussions.

_'I got a burn though,' _He mumbled. It had almost healed over now, but his skin was still red and shiny, and still hot to touch.

"Red!" Her eyes widened. "What? How...how did this happen?"

_'I was fighting against a Team Rocket member and when I won, he got angry and pushed me against a boiler,' _He replied, unable to meet his mother's gaze. _'I fainted a little while after and Green found me and took me to the Pokecentre, but I was stupid and rushed back out to defeat Team Rocket despite it really hurting,' _He sometimes wished that he did have a filter when he talked to his mother because he would often say too much that would get him in more trouble than he would have otherwise.

But his mother's reaction was a little different than what he thought it would be. She pulled him into a hug, shaking her head. "Sweetie, why didn't you call me and tell me this?"

_'I survived, didn't I?' _He chuckled. _'It did hurt a lot, but I'm okay now,' _He still hated the look of the burn and he was finding it hard to accept the fact that he would have a scar there for the rest of his life. Not even a small scar, it was really big. At least his pants covered it, it would be worse if it was on his arm. That he was thankful for.

"I'm glad you were able to beat Giovanni though, I think that man needed to be taken down a few pegs," _She_ laughed, but something in her expression appeared nervous. Something Red couldn't quite put his finger on.

_'How do you know Giovanni?'_

"Please don't let him get to you," She answered, dismissing his question. How did she know about him? It was ever stranger than him knowing all those things about him. He didn't like it, why did his family have such an affiliation with Team Rocket? "Actually, just don't get involved in Team Rocket's business again,"

_'How do you know Giovanni, mum?' _He tried again, but before he had even finished asking, she had stood up and was moving towards the kitchen. Why was she ignoring the question? Did she know him somehow? But she'd never mentioned him before... And hey, she was the one who had brought up the subject, so she shouldn't be trying to avoid it.

"It's about eight, Red," She called. "I came to get you for dinner before, but you were asleep so I left you. So you can have it now," He sighed, accepting the fact that she wasn't going to answer, no matter how many times he asked.

* * *

Red stared down the road to the beach, almost ready to leave. It was the following day, and that familiar uneasy feeling was back. This time is was about leaving. He wanted to travel again and get to the next gym, but he was going to miss home and the comfort of it. It had been so long since he had been here, and now he was just going straight away. He knew that he was being hypocritical, as yesterday he had wanted to be out travelling again, but he couldn't help how he felt. He was just a stupid teenager after all.

Pikachu was perched on his shoulder, it's ears twitching in the wind indicating that it obviously wanted to get a move on. Of course it wanted to go as soon as possible, it hadn't spent fourteen years here.

_'We'll go in a second, buddy,'_

"Must you go so soon?" His mother's voice made him jump and he spun around, finding her now standing behind him. Had she been there very long? "You've only been here for a day,"

_'When I come back from Cinnabar I'll come visit again,' _He answered, hoping that his shaky hands (and thus gestures) wouldn't give away how worried he was. If there was something that annoyed Red about himself, it was that his hands shook whenever he got nervous, stressed or angry (and strong emotion, really). Normal people didn't shake like he did, and he felt like he was weird because of it. But it wasn't something that impacted on his life greatly, so he didn't have to worry too often. _'That will only take a week or so,'_

She nodded and hugged him quickly. "Bye, Red,"

_'Love you, mum,' _He stood up onto his toes and kissed her on the cheek and then quickly started off down the road. He was worried that if he stayed any longer then he wouldn't actually be able to leave, and that wouldn't be very helpful in getting to Cinnabar. But for some reason it was harder leaving now that it had been the first time, so the best way to get it done was _fast_.

He hadn't really walked through Pallet since getting home, and it felt a little odd traipsing through the familiar streets. It was that same feeling of being home, but not being home that he couldn't quite work out. Nothing had changed in the little village, yet _everything _had. Maybe it was just him. It just seemed that everyone here were stuck in their same old routines and not actually seeing the rest of the region. Actually, scratch that. Red had just been through so much that coming back to his sleepy little village was...boring.

He'd been walking for all of two minutes when he heard someone calling his name from across the street. He knew who it was straight away - that Tom kid that he had so hated when he was younger. Of course he would run into him, the _one _time he was back home. He wanted to ignore him and keep walking to the beach, but his feet wouldn't let him and instead he turned around to face him.

"We missed you around here," He said, crossing the street so he didn't have to yell. "With you and Green around, it's been boring," Red sighed, trying to not let Tom get to him. Oh, and shaky hands again. "I would suggest a battle, but I don't want to discourage you when I win,"

A battle would be nice, Red would finally get an opportunity to show everyone how much he'd accomplished. And hey, Tom wasn't even a trainer, so he didn't know why he thought he even had a chance. Red pointed to the pokeball hanging from Tom's belt, and the latter shrugged, unfastening it and releasing an Eevee. That was weird, had Professor Oak given them to everyone besides him?

_'Pikachu, use Volt Tackle as fast as you can,' _For some reason, this was one of the most important battles to him, because one of his driving forces during his travels so far had been to show all those kids in Pallet Town how good a trainer he could be, and now, well, he was getting the chance (and with the worst kid too!). Of course the main drive during travelling had been his dream to be the Champion, but there were lots of little reasons as well.

"Eevee, use Tackle," Red sniggered. Yeah, Tackle would get you far.

Pikachu began to spark and the sprinted towards the little creature sitting in front of it. It collided at full force, knocking the poor thing out cold. Tom recalled it angrily, muttering to himself while Pikachu walked calmly back and sat at Red's heels. He had never felt so satisfied in his whole life (actually, that's a lie. Once before he felt like this, and that was when he beat Tom up all those years ago), but he wasn't finished. He needed to do one more thing to show off. He fished around his bag and pulled out his trainer case, showing him the six badges. You know, he wasn't a proud person usually, some people just brought out the worst in him.

"Yeah, well, Green has seven," Okay, so some people never change, no matter what happens. Obviously Tom was one of them, and Red didn't like it. Instinctively (without really thinking), he took a step forward and punched him in the face. Once it was done, he immediately regretted it because he _really _didn't want to get in another fight and his mum was just around the corner. So he took off down the street, Pikachu close behind, heading straight towards the ocean.

He could hear Tom's footsteps behind him and he was getting closer. But he was almost at the beach, and he only had to get there and then he could jump onto Lapras and be safe. He was guessing that Lapras could swim faster than Tom could, so he'd probably be alright.

He was on the sand now and he fumbled for Lapras's ball in his bag and pulled it out, releasing it into the water. It seemed to know what was happening as it stayed near the shore, allowing him to jump onto it's back before swimming a little deeper into the water. Red couldn't help but grin and laugh as he watched Tom yelling profanities to him on the sand.

When he couldn't see Tom anymore, he finally allowed himself to catch his breath and think about everything that had happened. Well, the _only _thing he could think about was what he had said. _Green has seven. _Of course he did, because Green was good at _everything _and got all the advantages. Yeah, he'd beaten Tom, but would he beat Green next time? Probably not, Green would end up being the Champion, not him. He could just picture it now.


	38. Interlude 4

I have a feeling this chapter makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But I've had the idea for ageeeeeeeeeeees and have wanted to write it. But it was really difficult to write or think of ideas for, so I hope it's decent.

Anyway, opinions! Should I write a sequel sort of thing to this? I was thinking of doing one all about Gold's journey because he does meet Red in the end. Do you think I should?

There was also something I've been meaning to say for a while on here, but I can't remember what it is.

* * *

**Interlude #4: Mute for a day**

* * *

Why Green had decided not to speak for a whole day was a question he himself couldn't even answer. He had supposed it was to see how 'tough' Red really was (he had doubts about this) and to see if it was really as difficult as he thought. Actually, on another thought, he figured it was just to see what his friend went through each day. He had accepted a long time ago that the other boy didn't speak but sometimes found himself wondering what it would be like to live so solitarily. Surely things were a lot different for Red than most people because _he _was different.

There was a lot going on in Red's head, Green knew that, but it was sometimes hard to see because he would just give that blank stare a lot of the time. This would come off as Red just not being very intelligent, but Green knew otherwise. He was really smart, even if Green didn't want to acknowledge that (which he didn't). Not a very talkative kid though, which wasn't really surprising. It just meant that Green was forced to make all the conversation, but he didn't really mind that. Red listened at least.

Though the two of them had had quite a few issues over the past few years, Green found that he no longer held any ill feelings towards Red. They no longer glared at one another when they'd pass either, which was sort of nice. Being in a constant feud was more exhausting than you'd think. And though he'd never admit it, Green kind of wanted to patch things up with him. But he wouldn't be the only one making an effort, Red had to try too, otherwise he'd just feel stupid.

Speaking of feeling stupid, he felt like that now. Pretending to be mute seemed like a rather immature thing to do even if it would be helpful in the long run. He'd decided to do it the previous night when he was tired and not thinking straight. He'd spent the whole day travelling to Viridian City and found himself in a daze by the time he got to the Pokecentre. It was then he'd had the idea. Of course an average person would just quit and forget the whole thing, but Green wouldn't. Oh no, Green never backed away from a challenge, how ever small or trivial it may be. He could have even made it easier for himself to not speak just while he was travelling along a route, but he'd decided on the thing when he was in the _city_, where he had to talk to do everything.

But Green liked a challenge, as we've just discovered.

He pulled his bag over his shoulder and started out of the Pokecentre. It was the morning and his stomach was grumbling angrily. He tried to shush it at first, putting off any human contact (this kid was quite the hypocrite), but much to his dismay the grumbling was persistent. So he figured that he'd have to get something to eat eventually, which was where he was headed now. Plus, the lack of food was making him feel a little ill and that wasn't particularly pleasant.

He stepped out of the building and was immediately greeted with hoardes of people rushing past him, this way and that. It seemed that Viridian was very popular today, and Green found himself caught in the exact situation he had been hoping to avoid. He was feeling judged already, even though he hadn't even had the opportunity to speak, as if everyone around him knew what he was doing. But what if he had to talk to someone? How would he communicate? _He _knew sign language, but they most certainly wouldn't. He really should have thought this through...

Why was he doing this again?

What if he bumped into someone? He wouldn't be able to apologise and would probably end up just staring awkwardly up at them. They would probably just mistake this for him being rude and would get annoyed with him. He could get beaten up! (Red and Green were both fond of jumping to ridiculous conclusions) The thought of this started to stress him out and he found himself frozen to his spot in the middle of the pathway, probably furthering his chances of a confrontation. He managed to pull his feet up from the ground and ducked into the nearest building.

He leant against the wall and told himself to take deep breaths. He hadn't done anything wrong so there was no reason that he'd be in any sort of danger. The thing about Green though, is that he gets stressed very easily. Moreso than regular people, but he just never let it show. That woud be presenting himself with some sort of a weakness, and he didn't want to lose his pride like that. He lets little worries get to him until he's thought about them so much that he finds himself slumped on the floor of wherever he is, completely exhausted. He'd been like this ever since he was about eight, and hated it ever since. The stress would get in the way of him being able to enjoy himself, which a lot of the time made him unhappy.

He was able to calm himself down almost completely (he'd worked out methods for this over the past six years. They usually included lots of deep breaths and frantically running his hand through his hair) and could now take a proper look around. He'd come into a diner of sorts, how convenient. He found an empty booth and looked through the menu. Nothing looked very appetising anymore as being stressed always seemed to take away his appetite. So he decided just to get a milkshake. A very healthy breakfast, but it was better than nothing, hey?

"May I help you?" Green glanced up and found the a waitress hovering around the booth. He opened his mouth, about to speak and then remembered that that was off limits today. Embarrassed, he clamped it together and just pointed to what he was wanted on the menu. "Sure..." She replied, a little confused about Green. But she wrote down his order nonetheless and then scurried off. This was _not _helping him feel any better about the situation, and he wondered if that's what happened to Red. Maybe the kid was so used to it that he didn't notice it anymore? But surely it would hurt a little, Red wasn't stone.

Having his jaw hang open for a moment there brought his attention up to his mouth. He touched it gingerly, almost making sure that it was okay. It felt weird because of not being used at all so far, and that unsettled him a little. But he supposed it was probably just because he had to make an effort to _not _actually use it, so all the focus was on it. If you overthought something, it was bound to go pear-shaped eventually. Green knew all about that.

But sitting here silently, and as bad as he was feeling, Green was beginning to gain a new respect for his friend. It took him a lot of effort not to speak, so living your whole life like that must have been somewhat difficult. And well, he must have been a much stronger person that himself, though you'd never realise it. Green didn't think he'd ever be able to deal with adversity (he had hardly dealt with what crap life had thrown at him so far) as well as Red did. The kid just seemed to take everything on board and come out a better person, whereas he'd just have a hissy fit.

* * *

"You're a trainer!" A young girl (Green defined anyone shorter than him younger) exclaimed, pointing at the pokeball hanging from Green's belt. "Let's have a battle!" Green shook his head reluctantly. He wanted nothing more than to battle, but he couldn't because how would he command his pokemon? They didn't understand sign language like Red's did. The fact that he couldn't even take his pokemon out of their balls today was upsetting him. He missed them and felt a bit cruel just leaving them in there for so many hours.

"Why not?" She pressed, placing her hands on her hips. He just shook his head again, a little bewildered and not sure how to answer. He didn't know how to deal with this sort of thing, _he _usually spoke! After a moment or so, he gestured to his throat, hoping that that would be enough for her. "Oh! Are you that mute trainer that stopped Team Rocket?" Apparently it was.

_Red._

He shook his head _again_, frowning. So, people knew about Red? How? He'd never seen anything about it in the papers or anything, but he also hadn't watched television for quite a few months now due to lack of access. He couldn't help feeling a pang of jealousy though. He wanted to have stopped Team Rocket! He wanted to be the famous one, the one people looked up to! Him! _Green! _But no, it was Red because Red did everything good for everyone. It wasn't fair! Why couldn't he get the glory for once?

"Oh, okay," She replied, disheartened. "I'm going to go over there then..." He watched her retreat before taking a seat on one of the empty benches in the park. This whole silent thing was getting tiring and he had to keep reminding himself that he _couldn't _answer people, no matter how strangely they looked at him. He was finding it hard to deal with, he'd never realised everyone was so judgemental. Whenever they worked out that he didn't speak, the way they treated him had changed. For some reason they thought it wasn't okay to stand near him and addressed him from over three metres away. As if he was contagious. How did Red put up with that every day?

Red had explained to him many times why he didn't speak, but right now Green was wondering how the pros his friend often described outweighed the cons of everything else. People weren't...nice. He certainly was able to feel a fair bit more understanding to Red now though than he had before. He'd just never realised what it was like.

The day had dragged on forever and Green wasn't feeling very happy at all. It had been difficult and tiring, and he missed his pokemon. But finally it had hit about six and he knew that the day was coming to an end. He'd almost gotten through his stupid challenge! And succeeded too! He stood up and hitched his bag up, he now had an excuse to go back to the Pokecentre. He'd been wanting to go back there all day to avoid people, and finally he could. Plus, he was tired and just kind of felt like sleeping.

But you know, he could not bring himself to regret the day. He'd learnt an awful lot about the world and how judgements were cast on people. It wasn't a nice thing, but he certainly felt a little enlightened from it all. It also kind of wanted to find Red again and just apologise for everything that had happened. Not just how he'd treated him, but how everyone else had. He went through so much and until now, Green had had no idea. He felt like an idiot for all those years of fighting too. He'd been an immature, selfish little child (who'd long since cared about his father) who had definitely grown up a lot in the past six months.

But he thought all this now, but he was still Green Oak, and Green Oak was much too proud and stubborn to actually apologise for something by himself. It takes a lot to change a person, after all.

* * *

Green fluttered his eyes open, letting them adjust to the sunlight streaming in through the window. He sat up, pushing his covers off and made a mad reach for his pokeballs sitting on the table next to his bed. He opened them, releasing Eevee, Ninetales and Sandslash.

"Good morning, Eevee!" He exclaimed, grinning when he heard the sweet sound of his own voice. Oh, how he'd missed moving this! "Good morning, Ninetales! Good morning, Sandslash!"

* * *

"Red always said I grew up so much while travelling, and I suppose this was when I did the most," Green laughed. "I felt terrible after the whole experience of not speaking. I realised that the world was full of stupid people who don't treat others nicely, and until then, I had been one of them. I like to think I'm a bit of a better person now,"


	39. Route 21

THREE WEEKS UNTIL MOCK EXAMS. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK I HATE IT. I HAVE NO TIME TO DO ANYTHING BUT STUDY HISTORY.

But speaking of, I got a new Gameboy yesterday! It's the same colour and everything. IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL :D

Anyway, there are two reviews I'd like to address. One said that I should have said "Butterfrees" instead of butterflies, and let me tell you, I intended to! I had thought about it and everything. But then my fingers just wrote butterflies without me even realising! So sorry about that! And the other asked how Red mumbles with sign language. I suppose he just uses smaller gestures?

**And once again, thank you to all my reviewers. I appreciate everything you've written!**

Apologies for the lame chapter. Filler chapters are so difficult to write.

* * *

**Chapter 35: Run-ins**

_'Two badges,' _Red said, smiling. _'It was ages ago now, but I still remember the excitement. I'd wanted this more than anything my entire life, and then I was so close to it. Of course I still had a long way to go, but hey, all the more fun, right? I was really rushed back then though, trying to get to everywhere as soon as possible. If there was one thing I could change about travelling back then, it would be to slow down. Sometimes I felt I hardly got time to appreciate each place,'_

* * *

Red didn't think he'd ever felt happier (that was a pretty broad statement, but it is hard to judge how you were feeling just from your memories). He was surfing along Route 21 with Pikachu and well, the ocean. The latter alone would always make him happy, so being completely surrounded by it only served as fuel to his joy. Not only was he with all the things he liked best, he was out travelling again. It almost seemed that _normal _life had resumed. As normal as never staying in one place for very long can be anyway. Lapras was a very good form of transportation though and Red found that the waved didn't really affect it, as they were hardly rocking at all. He made sure to praise it often though, didn't want it thinking he was a freeloader.

They'd picked a rather nice day to travel to Cinnabar, considering it was the middle of winter. There wasn't much wind and the sun was out, making it almost warm. Speaking of that, he'd forgotten to bring a jacket once again. It had just been so warm in his house he'd plain forgotten. Pikachu seemed to be loving sailing like this, it was sitting on Lapras's head and grinning, watching the horizon. It made Red smile, he'd never seen it quite so happy before. It wasn't really surprising though, his love of the water seemed to have rubbed off a little.

He pulled his hat off and stuffed it inside his bag which was hanging from one of the 'spikes' on Lapras's shell. He lay back and dipped the bottom of his head into the water so half of his hair was wet. He left himself hanging there and looked up at the sky, letting the water support his neck. Sometimes Red found the size of the sky really daunting, it was just so huge and seemed to stretch on forever. Did it end? And if so, where? Did the people in Johto see the same sky as him? When Red looked up at something so big, he always felt a little small and silly, as if he was rather insignificant. But then he'd remember that the size of things were all relative and if something like the sky could exist, then surely anything was possible.

Maybe even something like winning the Pokemon League?

He smiled, the reality of only having two more badges to go finally hitting him properly. He was almost there! He squealed silently (and like a girl, he must admit), excited about the prospect of even being able to step inside the League building. He'd been dreaming of this since forever! The euphoria was short-lived though, because he realised he was feeling so happy because all the blood has rushed to his head and he was a little dizzy. He sat up and closed his eyes, waiting for everything to stop spinning. Once he was alright again, he found that the tingling excitement was still there. So it was legitimate, not just a result of lightheadedness.

It was starting to seem that they would not get to Cinnabar within the day though, as the sun was starting to lower itself and there was no city in sight yet. Well, that was kind of annoying, he'd have to find somewhere to stay. In the middle of the ocean. Quickly too, the waves got bigger pretty fast and he didn't think Lapras would be able to survive _everything. _Mind you, he should have realised how long it would take him to get to the island, the distance between the two was quite large on the map. Red didn't usually plan ahead though, and that had been a disadvantage a fair few times.

On his journey across the island so far, he'd sailed past some little islands with some fishermen on them. Finding one of those would probably be his best bet, and even though he'd have to camp outside, at least he would be sleeping on dry land. For some reason, he was feeling a little stressed out and rushed now, as if he had to find one of these islands straight away otherwise he'd be stranded in the sea. He had a good hour until it got dark still, but he still felt worried.

_'Speed up a little,' _He commented to Lapras, peering into the distance. He was in luck, there seemed to be a small bump of land rising out of the water. Not Cinnabar, but it was a start. He was starting to feel nervous now instead of stressed. What if he didn't get to it in time and got stuck out at sea? Lapras was headed towards it, and in about ten minutes Red found himself standing on the shoreline. What had he been worried about? That was silly of him.

He glanced around, there wasn't much to the island besides the beach. There was somewhat of a jungle behind them, but it wasn't very big and you could probably walk through it in about twenty minutes. The place seemed fairly popular for a stranded island though, as there were about six people fishing and a few others just sitting on the sand. He guessed that the ones that weren't fishing were trainers, because really, who else would be out here? It wasn't a very fitting place to live. Maybe he'd be able to battle them later, that would be fun.

"Hey, another kid has had the same idea," A young woman called from across the sand. She was one of the people fishing and was sitting crosslegged on the shoreline. He felt a bit rude not approaching her, but Red knew it would be awkward if he did (he'd probably just hover there, not really sure how to answer anything), but he walked over anyway. "This is a great spot for fishing," She commented, laughing. "But you'd be surprised how many trainers come past. I'm Lorelei, by the way," She stuck out her hand and Red shook it cautiously, not wanting to get bait on his fingers. He wanted to walk away and go sit by himself, but that wasn't a particularly polite thing to do. Plus, she was being nice enough, so he should probably wait it out.

"What's your name?" She continued and he paused, unsure of how to answer. Being asked his name was such a simple question, yet it was so hard for him to respond. It seemed a little counter-productive considering that. Eventually he came up with a way to answer and bent down to trace _Red _into the sand. "I hope I haven't put you off with all my talking, we were just strangers a moment ago,"

He shook his head and smiled. She hadn't questioned him not speaking, which was always refreshing. He hadn't met someone who hadn't seemed a little confused of taken aback by it since, well, he was on the S.S Anne and had talked to that Gold kid. Speaking of, he wondered how that guy was going. He seemed pretty determined to become a trainer and the way he had spoken to him gave Red the impression that life perhaps hadn't been the kindest to him. He'd like to see him again, their encounter had made quite an impact on him. But there was no point in thinking about that now, they were miles apart. So he took a seat next to Lorelei and watched the ocean, figuring that he wasn't going to be able to leave any time soon.

"It's nice here, isn't it?" She must have noticed him looking at the water in awe (it still astounded him that something like water could exist, it was just so _cool_). "I usually come here on weekends just for the scenery," It was the weekend? Red had completely lost track of his days. "I don't have work then, so I just surf down on my Lapras. Just like you did, I suppose,"

He tilted his head to the side in interest, he'd never met another person with a Lapras before. In fact, he hadn't even known they were out in the wild considering he'd been given his and the only other one he'd seen had been in the Safari Zone zoo. Was she a trainer then, or did she just have one?

"I'm from this little island way further south than this," Lorelei started up again. "It's called Floe, and it's so far down that I can only manage to visit on extended weekends and holiday breaks. This place just suffices until then," She laughed, but it wasn't convincing and Red knew she wanted to be there. He couldn't help feeling a little bad though, it didn't seem right to be separated away from home like that if you liked it so much. Why didn't she just get a job on the island? Surely that would make her happier...

"But I've been rambling too much, where are you from?"

Writing in the sand was rather convenient as the tide would just wash away his previous messages, leaving him a clean surface. So he traced with his finger _'Pallet'._

"How lovely," She replied. "You're not a city kid then. I didn't think so, you aren't pretentious," Green sort of disproved that point, but he didn't say anything. "Are you a trainer then?"

"Trainer?" A louder voice cut through the dull murmurs that had been going on with the others on the island, and Red looked up in surprise to find that now everyone was looking at him. They all wanted to battle him, didn't they?

"Yes, he's a trainer, Claude," Lorelei answered, rolling her eyes. She quickly turned to him and whispered: "Right?" He nodded, grinning. A battle was totally okay by him, it would be kind of fun even.

"Let me fight him," 'Claude' stood up, rolling his sleeves past his elbows and sauntering towards them. "I need a little variation in my day,"

Red stood up from his spot next to Lorelei and turned to face the fisherman. He was feeling rather excited, he hadn't had a _proper_ battle in a few days and this was he'd be able to judge how difficult Cinnabar would be. It was to be a rather convenient fight. But he was feeling somewhat judged, they all had their eyes on him, he could feel it. They probably wanted to see how good he was, and this meant he _had _to perform well. He wanted to prove to everyone that he could do _something _well.

_'Pikachu, get ready, buddy,' _Pikachu stepped in front of him and Claude released a Cloyster.

"Use Aurora Beam!" He yelled, and the creature took a few steps towards Pikachu, snarling. Well, that wasn't very nice. It is said that pokemon often become like their trainers, and Red had seen quite a few cases of this so far.

_'Jump out the way just before it hits you, and then when you're up, use Thunder,' _It was his turn to attack this time, and oh, how good it felt to be battling again. Pikachu dodged the attack and sparked, sending a bolt of electricity to Cloyster. Unfortunately it withdrew into it's shell just as the attack hit, so it wasn't nearly as effective. But besides that, Pikachu seemed to be enjoying fighting too.

"Aurora Beam again,"

_'Do the same thing, Pikachu,' _He said. _'This time try and aim for the opening in it's shell,' _This time it was Pikachu that was hit by the attack, and it went flying back towards Red's feet. Claude was grinning like a madman, but Pikachu didn't want to give up. That's one of the things he loved about the creature, it was so _determined. _It still used Thunder, and this time Cloyster was unprepared and was hit right in the middle. It was sent spinning back and fainted when it hit the sand.

"Good battle," Claude said, shaking hands with Red. It had been all over very quickly, but Red had still had fun. He liked battling trainers from all different parts of the region, they were all a little different each place. "I haven't versed someone as tough as you in years!" He laughed and then went and resumed his position on the shoreline with his fishing rod.

Red knew everyone was staring at him and he felt his cheeks flush red (what a time to blush, seriously). They'd been watching the whole thing, hadn't they? And they were all trainers too, so he was going to be swamped with questions or requests soon. That would be a little uncomfortable, he could just imagine it now. Plus, it was starting to get dark, so soon enough his pokemon wouldn't be able to understand what he was saying to them. So it probably wasn't a good idea to get into more battles now. Unpleasant memories of the Rock Tunnel kept springing to mind.

"Hey, battle me!" One of the girls that had been sitting on the sand jumped up and ran over to him, her arms flailing in the air as she did so. Yeah, he'd been right about the situation, but the scene was kind of funny. It was kind of comical seeing people his own age actually begging for his attention now, though he wasn't sure he liked it. It was weird. "I know who you are, that kid on the news!"

"No, me!" Another said, pulling out a pokeball from his pocket. "I have dibs!" Red shook his head frantically as they all started to crowd around him. It was almost pitch black now and he could hardly see them as it was. Did they not consider that either? He scooped up Pikachu from the ground, not wanting to lose the creature and then walked back over to Lorelei. She was safe territory and she'd tell them off if he needed it. Which he did.

"It's getting a bit late," She addressed the group, and they startled to grumble. "No more battling here, you'll all trip over yourselves," They all began to disperse, heading back towards where they were all originally sitting, muttering about how it wasn't fair. But they didn't dare talk back to Lorelei, she was about ten years their senior. And Red's for that matter.

What he noticed about the situation now though, was that they were all pulling sleeping bags out of their other bags. This suddenly made him feel incredibly exhausted and he found that he couldn't really stand up anymore without swaying and closing his eyes. So, because he was a wise young thing, he found an empty spot of sand and pulled out his own sleeping bag. Sand wasn't the nicest place to sleep, but as least he'd be close to the ocean. That was a comforting fact.

He pulled off his hat and wiggled himself inside the blankets. Pikachu curled up next to him and he realised how nice it was just to be able to do nothing. Red's days were so hectic that he hardly got anytime besides sleeping just to be still. He smiled as he closed his eyes, listening to the waves wash up and down the sand. He'd often slept down by the beach when he was a kid, and right now he felt like he was eight again. At this very moment, he had no responsibilities and he could just be. Sometime in the next minute, he drifted off to sleep, his mind filled with thoughts of Cinnabar (which hopefully he'd reach tomorrow).

* * *

**Lorelei is actually from Floe Island, it says on her bulbapedia entry, haha. I figured it was fitting she'd be on an island if she was from one. I hope it makes sense, ehehe.**


	40. Cinnabar Island

You know, I've always wondered how Green managed to beat Blaine and Giovanni before Red, considering Red did all that stuff to you know, open the gym up for everyone.

Also, I hope you all get notifications for this! Apparently you haven't gotten ones for the past few chapters or so.

* * *

**Chapter 36: Findings**

"My journey?" Green eyed them sitting in front of him warily. "You sure you don't mean Red's? No? Well, okay. Not much happened, I just walked from city to city, winning everything. I don't know why I got so strong, but it wasn't the right way, as Gramps has told me. I uh, didn't do anything of note, which is why no one remembers my reign as champion. Sorry I can't answer any better than this, no one's really asked me about what I've done before,"

* * *

"Here you go," The Nurse handed over Red's pokeballs and Pikachu, and he placed them in his bag (save the latter, of course). As he had hoped, it had only taken him about three or so hours to get to Cinnabar from that little island he'd camped on. And as for Cinnabar, it was...interesting. He was happy to be here because it meant he was closer to the gym, but the island also made him nervous. You know why? Because the town was built on the bottom of a volcano and he kept worrying that it was going to erupt. He told himself that it was a silly concern and that everyone had been living here peacefully for years and nothing had happened yet, but he couldn't help but feel a little worried whenever he looked up at it.

Unfortunately, every building in the town was facing it so his original plan of looking at it as little as possible kind of went out the window. But he could always just face the other way and look at the ocean, that was nice. These nerves made him want to spend as little time as possible in the town (it was a nice place, he just exaggerated everything) so as soon as he stepped outside the Pokecentre, he found himself running to the gym. Because running would get things done faster obviously.

He made a beeline for the door, Pikachu whining behind him about having to run, and extended his hands out so he could push it open and let himself inside. But as he tried to do this he found that it wouldn't budge. He sighed and tried to push against it again, but still nothing. He sighed, figuring that it probably needed to be open with the doorhandle. So he reached for that, but it wouldn't turn either. He kept trying though, hoping that something would change despite knowing full well that it wasn't.

He continued to tug on the doorhandle and as he did, he slowly got more frustrated. Why couldn't it just open? It wasn't fair! Was this happening because he'd wanted to spend as little time here as possible? Someone up there had it in for him, he knew it. Eventually the frustration got to him and he starting pushing on the door angrily and banging it with his fists. He knew that he was causing a scene and he could feel some of the townspeople watching, but he didn't care. He just wanted the stupid door to open!

"You know, Blaine lost the key to do the door," The voice made Red jump and he spun around, blushing like crazy. People had been watching him after all. The voice belonged to an older woman though, and she was trying not laugh. "He said he lost it in that massive house over there," She tilted her head behind her, and Red's attention was directed to well, a very large house indeed. It didn't appear inhabited though, as there was scaffolding all around the outside and half of the roof seemed to be burnt off. "He's too lazy to go and find it though, so until he gets another key made the gym is closed,"

That was disappointing. Now he'd have to go to that mansion and scour the ground for a tiny little key. No wonder Blaine hadn't bothered, it seemed like an awful lot of effort. But if he ever was to get that badge, then he'd have to go and find it, wouldn't he? He couldn't help but feel a little annoyed at this though, he had had to find so many things in the past six months. The Silph Scope, two card keys, the Pokeflute, an elevator key and now the key to Cinnabar gym. Too many keys, he was rather sick of it.

* * *

It seemed that the house was having renovations done on the outside, so that was why all the scaffolding was there. As for the inside, it seemed that there was no work going on to try fix that. He'd taken two steps inside and realised that something had happened to this place, something unusual. Some of the wooden supports in the roof had fallen down and he had to step over them to get through the rooms. They were singed too, so maybe there had been a fire of sorts. There was rubble from where the walls and roof were caving in littered all over the floor that also made it difficult for him to walk through. Oh yeah, and glass from the windows. That was plesant. He would have been nervous that the place would collapse in on him, but he was taking comfort in the fact that Blaine had been here and the "accident" looked like it had happened some time ago.

But Red had managed to make it onto the second floor and was currently standing in front of a statue of some strange pokemon. He'd never seen it before which was unusual in itself because he'd thought he knew every pokemon, but apparently not. The look of it was the second strange thing, it slightly resembled a cat, but it was standing up like a person. He stared at it for a moment, racking his mind to see if he'd ever seen anything like it before, but gave up when he came up empty.

There was a button on the bottom of the statue and Red was very tempted to push it. There was no label that said what it would do, so he figured that it was fair game. It couldn't exactly cause the building to fall down now, could it? So he pressed it down because hey, who wouldn't? There was a clicking noise and he looked around and saw that the button had opened one of the doors to the rooms but in the process had closed another. Oh, so it was a maze now? Great, as if he hadn't been through enough of those with Team Rocket.

Can you tell Red wasn't very happy about this whole situation?

He walked into the newly accessible room and was greeted with a whole lot of burnt rubble and dust which made him cough. Once he'd cleared his throat, he looked around the place and found that there was no key lying anywhere on the ground or the table sitting in the middle of the room. It was a little strange that the table would survive such a calamity, but he didn't question it. He would like to know what had happened though, it all seemed rather suspicious.

What was even more so though was the notebook lying on the edge of the table. The cover was a little grubby, but once he'd brushed all the dust off, it looked fine. How had that managed to escape being burnt? It was made of paper, surely it would have been the first thing to catch alight. He opened the cover and flicked to the first page, there was some scrawly handwriting which he had to squint to read. But even still he had a difficult time reading it.

_July 5_

_Guyana, South America. A new pokemon was discovered deep in the jungle._

_July 10_

_We christened the newly discovered pokemon Mew._

_February 6_

_Mew gave birth. We named the newborn Mewtwo._

_September 1_

_Mewtwo is far too powerful, we have failed to curb its vicious tendencies..._

He turned the page over and found that there was nothing else written. Well, that was more than a little eerie. What was Mew, and Mewtwo for that case? Maybe that had been the statue he'd seen earlier, it would make sense. But which one? And there was another question to ask too, what had happened to Mewtwo? He was startng to think that it was the cause of this whole collapsed building fiasco. But what had it done then? So many things plagued his mind and he made a mental note to ask Professor Oak about it when he got back to Pallet.

Suddenly this place felt haunted to Red. Weird science experiments had gone on here and it had been _destroyed _by something that was angry, it just didn't seem like a very happy place anymore. Well, it never had seemed very happy, but now it seemed a little worse. He felt ill just being in here, but couldn't bring himself to leave because otherwise he'd never get into the gym. So he swallowed that sick feeling and closed the notebook, turning to leave the room.

He walked through the corridor (it was more of a brisk stride, he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible now), keeping his eyes on the ground the whole time, looking for something shiny. So far there had been nothing and he was starting to lose his drive. There was so much to look through, and knowing his luck, it was probably buried under some rubble. He'd have to go searching through all of that. Great. Pikachu wasn't too keen on being in here either, the creature had been wary of it ever since they had entered. In fact, it was frightened and would not get off Red's shoulder. Maybe it sensed something in here that Red couldn't?

"This place is crap! There's nothing of value here!" The voice froze Red to the spot. He wasn't alone, but who else was here? What if they were dangerous, that wouldn't be good. Red did like danger, but as he had said before, not danger to himself. He managed to unfreeze himself and he was able to take a few steps forward to peek around the doorway to see who it was. Unfortunately, they were coming out of the doorway just as he popped his head around it.

"I'm not doing anything!" The man insisted, attempting to hide his bag behind his back. Red stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment and then slowly realisation dawned on him. This guy was trying to loot the mansion just because it was abandoned. That wasn't very nice. "You're not going to move then?" He continued, completely changing his tack now, probably realising that Red wasn't going to call the police. "I suppose I'll just have to battle you to get out the way,"

Red nodded and watched him pull out a pokeball. He released a Charmander, so Red pulled out Wartortle's ball. But when he released the creature, Wartortle was not standing in front of him. A Blastoise was. The large creature in front of him made him jump, he had not been expecting it. When had it evolved though? The last time he'd had it out of its ball it had still been a Wartortle, and that had been what, yesterday? It must have evolved overnight. And in its ball too! He didn't even know that was possible! But he had to admit, it was kind of cool.

As for the man, he was looking rather frightened. Charmander appeared rather small in comparison.

_'Use Hydro Pump,' _Red got the first command in. A large jet of water sent the Charmander flying and the man scooped his pokemon up and made a run for it. Sprinting down the hall and the stairs, presumably to the Pokecentre. Red couldn't help but grin at this, he'd just stopped a crime by himself! And the man was probably wondering how that had managed to happen without him 'saying anything'. He hadn't felt this important in quite a while, and for some reason felt better than he had when he'd beaten Giovanni. That was strange. _'Good job, Blastoise,' _He praised and then recalled it back into its ball. He was still astounded that it wasn't Wartortle anymore!

* * *

Red had spent another two hours or so roaming the hallways and rooms or this Godforsaken building, and only now was he coming across the little silver key he'd been searching for. It was sitting on the table on the _top _floor in the room furthest away from everything. Real convenient, Blaine. What were you even doing up here? He snatched it up and stuffed it into his pocket, keeping his hand on it so there was no way that he could lose it. Because if he did, someone was going to get hurt real bad.

But he'd actually managed to find it! That was an accomplishment, right?

Red started to make his way out of the room and through the building, but soon found himself jogging and then sprinting. He was finally able to leave this creepy place and hopefully banish the memory of it for a while. It hadn't been a pleasant experience and he still felt quite creeped out by what had happened inside. Okay, he was on the second floor now, almost there. First floor...and now! He burst out the doors and immediately had to double over because he was out of breath. Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and nudged his leg in concern.

_'You can't talk, you were on my shoulder the whole time, lazy,' _He said, glaring at the creature playfully. He managed to catch his breath but slid down so he was leaning against the wall of another building. He was so exhausted, he'd had a rather large day and hadn't had much time to sit down. Red looked around and noticed that it was dark outside, he hadn't realised at first because he was so intent on _breathing. _He must have been inside the building all afternoon, how odd. It hadn't felt like very long at all.

This ground was really comfy though, like actually. Probably even comfier than the seats at the Pokecentre. And with Pikachu curled up on his lap for warmth, this kind of made an okay substitute for a bed (and remember, at this point Red was really tired and not thinking straight at all). So for some reason, he found himself unable to keep his eyes open and eventually drifted off to sleep. Sitting up against a building in the middle of the night.


	41. Cinnabar Island 2

This chapter seems a bit all over the place, I'm sorry about that.

Also, the used the 12th of September as Red's birthday because that's when Yellow was released. So it kind of seemed fitting. As for the ages, I'm assuming Red and Green didn't get their pokemon on their actual birthdays, because then they'd be born the same day. I'm just guessing the Prof gave them to them for no reason, haha.

Hmm, as for a review that said they didn't understand the Mute for a day chapter, it is set in the same time as this story, but it could work as the future. You can imagine it anyway you like :)

And I've had an overwhelming amount of reviews asking about Snorlax, and I just want to tell you all **its coming! **It'll be in a chapter coming up, so don't worry! :D

* * *

**Chapter 37: Fire**

"The best thing that ever happened in my life?" Green asked, raising an eyebrow warily. He wasn't used to be asked the questions. "Learning sign language. I wouldn't be half the person I am today if I couldn't talk to Red,"

* * *

Red awoke and found himself sitting outside a building. What was he doing here again? Oh yeah, he'd fallen asleep after coming out of that mansion. He kind of regretted it now, it was really cold outside and he had goosebumps. He scooped Pikachu up and then stood up himself, though rather reluctantly as he was still a little sleepy. He managed to drag himself over to the Pokecentre which was only a few blocks away and park himself on one of the couches. The rooms would be taken up and he was too tired to go and enquire about them anyway.

There weren't many trainers out in the foyer which was nice, he always felt a bit judged when falling asleep with all the others. What if he sleepwalked? That would be kind of embarrassing. This time he didn't really care though, he was just feeling too tired. Falling asleep sitting up _and _outside didn't really leave you feeling refreshed or anything. So he took his hat off, and swung his legs up onto the couch. Pretty soon he was fast asleep again, dreaming of the Pokemon League or something.

* * *

Red's awakening this time was much more pleasant than the other one. Sure, he was woken up by people walking throughout the foyer and talking to others, but it wasn't cold and outside, so automatically is was better. He was a little embarrassed to have been asleep when people were awake around him, but he took comfort in the fact that he wasn't the last one asleep, several other people were still curled up on the other couches.

He yawned and stretched his arms, glancing at the large clock mounted on the wall. It read about nine-fifteen, he'd slept in rather late. Usually he woke up around eight (well, he never had any way to check the time if he wasn't in the Pokecentre, so he just assumed it), but it didn't really matter, did it? There was a calender hung on the wall beneath the clock and being that Red had not checked the date since he had left, he didn't even have an idea what month it was. He peered at it, and saw that it was the twelfth of September.

Well, hey, it was his birthday and he hadn't even realised it. This made him smile, he was fifteen now, and Green wasn't. Not yet. It did feel a little strange though, every birthday he'd had had been at home with his mother, and now he was alone. It made him miss home a little, why couldn't he have been in Pallet today instead of last week? He sighed and decided to do the next best thing and call her.

He wandered over to the phone which conveniently wasn't in use yet, though there would probably be a queue behind him in five minutes. He dialled his home number and waited for it to ring through, getting a little nervous with each ring. He didn't like making phone calls, even if it was just to his mother, he always found them a little unnerving. Eventually though, it did connect and his mother's familiar face flashed up onto the screen.

"Happy birthday, Red!"

_'I didn't even realise it was my birthday until five minutes ago, I've lost track of the date,'_

"I wish you were here, sweetie, it doesn't feel right not having you in Pallet for your birthday," She replied, frowning. Well, at least she was feeling like that too.

_'I know,' _He frowned. _'But I'll be back in a few days, mum,' _He was taking comfort in that fact. Maybe she'd give him a belated present or cake or something of the like, that would be nice. But he figured he'd have a pretty good birthday anyway, despite feeling a little down now, because he was intending to challenge Blaine today. If he won, he'd have the best birthday he'd ever had and would one step closer to the Champion. _'I uh, I'm going to go,' _He said, realising that he really didn't have all that much to say. He'd only really wanted to call just so he could get some validation that it was actually his birthday.

"I'll see you soon, Red," She smiled. "Have fun,"

He nodded and was about to hang up when he remembered one last thing. It was something that had been nagging in his mind since yesterday. _'Mum!' _He exclaimed, grabbing her attention again. _'What's Mewtwo?'_

A strange expression crossed her face at this statement and this irritated Red. She knew something that he didn't! "Ask Oak when you get back, he'll answer that," He nodded and then hung up the phone, he really wanted to know now! It had something to do with that house, but he didn't know what. Was it a secret or controversial or something? There was no point worrying about it now, he wouldn't be able to find out for a little while anyway, so he might as well just concentrate on the task at hand. The gym.

* * *

_Pokemon Quiz! Get it right and the door opens to the next room! Get it wrong and face a trainer! If you want to conserve your pokemon for the gym leader, then get it right!_

Red thought the concept was rather cool, it would give him a chance to test (and show off) all he knew about pokemon. So he stepped into the first booth and waited for the question to flash up on the little screen on the desk. He tapped his fingers impatiently, but was a little worried that he wasn't going to be able to work the technology.

_Caterpie evolves into Butterfree? Yes/No_

He tapped the no button, obviously it didn't. Well, it did, but not straight away. It had to evolve into Metapod first. A ticked appeared next to the question and then the door separating him and the next room opened. But he kind of wanted to battle all the trainers, it was good practice and he'd be able to see if he stood a chance against the leader. Probably not, but he did have a new Blastoise. So he stepped out of the booth and stood in the middle of the room, waiting.

"You can go through to the next room," The woman said, motioning to the open door. He shook his head and pulled out a pokeball, hoping that she'd get the message. She seemed to and sighed, releasing her own pokemon, a Ninetales. He let Blastoise out, and it stood over Ninetales, making it look rather small in comparison.

It seemed that Blastoise's personality had gotten better as it had evolved. At first it had been rather reluctant to battle and had liked to cause trouble wherever it went, but now that it was at its final evolve form, it was almost a different creature. It still was rather mischevous, but it always seemed to be worried whenever it hurt another pokemon in battle. He supposed it was because it trusted him more now than it did at first, so it could just be who it really was. Even if it did look quite frightening and intimidating when it stood next to you.

_'Use Hydro Pump, Blastoise,' _He said, pointing out into the field. _'Quickly before Ninetales has a chance to react,'_

"Wait!" She called. Red looked up in surprise and held his hand up for Blastoise to stop. Though this could just be a ploy to get the first move in on her part, so he was a little wary. _'You can use sign language,'_

Red couldn't help but gawk a little at this, he hadn't come across anyone for quite a while (only Mia really) who knew how to sign. _'Yes, I can,' _This would be much more interesting now, he hadn't battled anyone besides Green who could understand him. He liked the idea of it, though.

She laughed, and then her face turned serious. "Hyperbeam, Ninetales!"

This made Red frown, it had been somewhat of a diversion. Fantastic. _'Resume with Hydro Pump,' _He said, unsure whether to feel happy or annoyed, so he came to a standstill somewhere in the middle. He watched Blastoise launch its attack, and was really surprised when it knocked Ninetales out straight away. He certainly hadn't been expecting that, he hadn't even been expecting to win.

"You're really something," The woman remarked as she recalled her Ninetales. "I think you may have a chance at Blaine,"

_'I hope so,' _He replied. It was still so weird being able to talk to another person like this! _'It's my birthday,'_

"Then go," She motioned to the door behind her just as she had before. "I actually think you can do it," He smiled, it was nice to have some support. So he put Blastoise back into its ball and made his way through the door and into the next booth. He was a little nervous now, what if he got it wrong this time?

_There are nine certified Pokemon League Badges? Yes/No_

What? No, that couldn't be right. But if there were nine, that meant he still had two more to go after this! That wasn't fair, he'd always thought it was eight. His hands were shaking now, he'd been so excited about having only two more to go, and now he had three. That certainly put a damper on everything. He sighed and clicked yes, submitting to the inevitable disappointment that was still to come.

There was a buzzing noise and a large red X appeared on the screen. But that meant...there weren't nine! There were only eight! Thank God or whoever else was up there, he was so happy! He did only have two more to go after all!

* * *

To be honest, Blaine was excited because he'd just been informed that a particularly strong trainer was going to challenge him. Julia, the lady who was stationed at the first post in his gym had run up to him and yelling across the floor that a young boy was beating all the other gym members. Most other leaders would have been worried that the standard of their gym was slipping, but not Blaine. He thought it was great, he hadn't had a challenging battle in a while.

Mind you, he'd been beaten by some kid last week, but there hadn't been anything remarkable about him, so he had somewhat forgotten about the battle. He couldn't even remember the guy's name now, it was a colour or something strange like that. But today Blaine had a good feeling about it. He stretched his arms, making sure he was ready for the battle, he wanted to go all out - he hadn't felt this fired up in years!

"Arcanine, get ready," He instructed, petting the creature's head that was sitting by his feet. "We're going to have fun, old boy," Arcanine was getting on in years now (in fact, it was almost as old as Blaine, sans fourteen years or so), but it still behaved as if it was a puppy. Growlithe had been his first pokemon, and it had never lost its excitable nature. Whenever it would get the chance to battle, it would bounce around, really enthusiastic about it. He supposed that's why it was so strong, and the two were rather close. Blaine stood ready himself, crossing his arms over his chest. The kid couldn't be far away now.

Well, speak of the devil, the boy had just walked into his arena. He slowly crossed the room and shook hands with Blaine, smiling politely.

"I'm Blaine, the Cinnabar gym leader," He said. The kid didn't answer and he mistook this for rudeness. Why did a little arrogant thing think he could just waltz in here, completely disrespecting an elder and expect to win? It would be worse than that kid last week, but at least he said hello.

But when the boy raised his head and looked at him, he withdrew all his judgements (it was his gaze that gave him the realisation). This boy was the person he'd heard about from the other gym leaders! The one that didn't talk but apparently was very good at battling and was making his way through all the gyms in record time. Now he felt guilty about condemning him before. But it didn't matter, because now Blaine was even more fired up, this would be fun!

"Let's fight, kid!" He proclaimed, stepping back to the edge of the arena. "But you'd better have a Burn Heal, I tend to incinerate all my opponents," He threw his head back and laughed, this was going to be a good battle. Arcanine knew what to do and stepped forward instinctively, ready to start.

The kid pulled out his own pokeball - so he wasn't using the Pikachu perched on his shoulder after all, dang - and released a Blastoise. When that Blastoise entered the arena though, Blaine suddenly knew he had no chance. This kid was the real deal, even his presence on the field was intimidating. He knew he'd lose, but he strangely didn't feel any less reluctant to fight. But seriously, the Blastoise. It was _huge _and was staring Arcanine down. Arcanine was too excited to notice though, and he knew it was just itching to begin.

So he might as well let it. "Take Down!" It began to charge towards Blastoise, who just stood there. That was strange, shouldn't it be doing something? Just as Arcanine was about to charge into it, it grabbed ahold of his pokemon, stopping it in its tracks. Blaine nodded, very smart move. Then suddenly, it hit Arcanine with a powerful jet of water, letting go of it. The force of the water wouldn't let it move, and Arcanine was left there until Blastoise was finished.

It hobbled back to Blaine, a little less enthusiastic about battling now. "Use Reflect and then Take Down again," He was trying to work out how Blastoise was actually fighting, he'd heard nothing from the boy (because he didn't talk, go figure), but how was he communicating then. Surely it would much more difficult to battle in this silent way opposed to just shouting out commands. He took his eyes off Arcanine for a moment and watched the kid intently, waiting for something to happen.

His hands moved skillfully and then he realised how he was doing it. He was signing to battle! The quickness of his movements was astounding, he was more fluent in this than anything else and Blaine found it quite fascinating. But he had to concentrate on what was happening at the moment. He directed his attention back to Arcanine and saw that it was fainted on the floor. Blastoise seemed to actually be concerned about the damage it had inflicted, which was quite kind. He smiled at this notion and recalled it, making a mental note to visit the Pokecentre after this.

He pulled out another pokeball and released his Ninetales. Maybe it would have a better chance against Blastoise, it was a little more agile. "Quick Attack," It began to dart around the field, getting closer and closer to its opponent. This time Blastoise decided to move though but once again shot water at Ninetales, sending it flying across the room and landing just before Blaine's feet. It would be too harsh to ask it to try and attack again, so he recalled it.

This battle wasn't going well, but it was going just as he expected. He only had one pokemon left, and that was Rapidash. Maybe it could pull off a suprise attack and defeat Blastoise. One could only hope. He released it onto the field, and it was here that the kid did the most curious (and stupid, according to Blaine) thing. He actually recelled Blastoise himself and pulled out another ball. He opened it and presented a Lapras. Well, that made the fight just _so _much easier.

* * *

"I'm burned out!" Blaine exclaimed, laughing. He wasn't disappointed by losing, in fact, he was quite the contrary. It was refreshing to be beaten by someone like this kid, as odd as that sounds, who actually had _talent _despite facing immense difficulty. He hadn't been this happy to hand out a badge since, well, ever. He'd never been very keen on losing, but he actually felt good this time. He stepped forward and shook hands with him, who was now beaming. "You have earned the Volcano Badge," He pulled out a little red pendant from his pocket and dropped it into his hands.

The boy clutched it to his chest and somehow his grin got wider. He hovered for a moment and then spun around and slowly made his way out of the gym, his Pikachu trailing behind. He was odd, but Blaine hadn't really ever seen someone so appreciative of winning. It almost seemed as if he felt he didn't deserve it, it was quite a different attitude to that kid he'd battled last week. Now _that _was a loss he didn't feel good about.

"He's going to go far, isn't he?" The voice made Blaine jump and he turned around to find Julia, the woman who had informed him of that kid's presence earlier.

"And he deserves to," He answered.

She agreed. "It's his birthday too, he told me,"

Blaine couldn't help smiling at this, he felt even better about his loss now. He'd just made that kid's day without even realising it. "I didn't know you could speak sign language," She nodded, blushing slightly. This made him chuckle and he took her hand in his and kissed her forehead, and then they turned and watched him exit the gym, both content with their days.

* * *

**Get it? She's supposed to be Blaine's wife/girlfriend or whatever! Did that make any sense? Probably a really corny ending though, but whatevz magevz.**


	42. Pallet Town 2

Thank you to all my reviewers, I appreciate everything you say! Really, you're the best :)

But some of my regular ones have gone away, are you not getting the updates? :( I miss you!

Jeeeeeezus, sorry about re-uploading this chapter, but I made a huuuuuuuuuuge mistake. I wrote Red saying hi as in "Hi" not _'Hi'_, so it looked like he talked. But anyway, I've corrected that. So nothing much has changed for everyone who has already read this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter 38: Stories**

"Red is a very intelligent boy," His mother commented. "If you ask him about things he feels strongly about, like pokemon and politics, then he'll gladly discuss them with you. But people think he's just really stupid because he's silent. They think that he doesn't understand anything that happens around him,"

* * *

Red's trip back to Pallet had been rather uneventful. He'd left Cinnabar the morning following his birthday and was very glad in doing so. The whole time he'd been on the island he'd felt nervous about the volcano (silly, right?), and as Lapras swum away with him, he'd felt a great sense of relief wash over him. He was safe. From there, they'd sailed along for the whole day until it began to get dark and he had to find one of those little islands to camp on. He'd been rather lucky with the weather the whole time he'd been at Cinnabar, he wasn't even feeling very cold anymore! The next morning they'd set off again and by midday, Red found himself standing on the shore of Pallet.

He wandered up along the familiar road, laughing silently at Pikachu. The creature was eyeing the surroundings warily, as if it _almost _recognised them. It didn't take him very long to walk to his house, and the path was almost involuntary because he'd walked it so many times - nothing had changed. It was like he'd never left Pallet. That's one of the things he disliked about it, it was always the same and nothing ever happened. It was so cut off from the rest of the region.

This time Red let himself into the house, finding that the door was unlocked. He wasn't nervous at all now and was taking comfort in all the warm surroundings. He walked into the lounge room and his mother, who was sitting on the lounge, looked up when she heard him.

"Red!"

_'Hi,'_ He replied, really glad to see her again.

"I have a gift for you," She commented, jumping up from her seat and grabbing a little wrapped item off the coffee table and passing it to him. He carefully began to unwrap it, not wanting to tear the paper as it looked quite nice and could probably be used again. He managed to succeed with only one tiny tear and found that the present was an Ultra Ball and another yellow orb thing. This made him smile - Ultra Balls were expensive! How had she been able to afford this for him?

"The yellow one is a Light Ball, it increases electric attacks," She explained, noticing his confused look at the latter object. "I thought you and Pikachu would like it,"

_'Thank you!' _He exclaimed, stepping forward and hugging her tightly. Wow, he was tallen than her now, that was odd. _'They're great,' _He handed the yellow ball to Pikachu, who took it cautiously, but held onto it more tightly when it realised it wasn't dangerous. It was such a scaredy-cat sometimes.

"I thought you'd like them," She beamed, starting to make her way to the kitchen. "I also made a cake, because it's not quite a birthday without one, is it?" Red followed her and took a seat at the table, watching her take the cake out the fridge. It was rather extravagant and it was made out of what looked like an unhealthy amount of chocolate. But that was okay, right? It was his birthday, or rather had been, after all. Red had always admired his mother's cooking and had yet to find anything better than what she made. He figured it was because she was set to inherit her mother's restaurant, until, well, him.

She set the cake down on the table and took a seat next to him. "Happy birthday, dear," She smiled and it was evident that she had missed him.

For some strange reason (and Red's still yet to work out why), her smile coupled with all the effort she had put in to make the cake and get him a gift made him sad. He felt really guilty for leaving her alone for so long, and that she probably missed him. He blinked a few times, trying to stop his eyes from watering. But it didn't work and everything became hazy from the stupid tears leaking out. He wiped them away, hoping that his mother hadn't noticed yet. He didn't even understand why he was crying, she had been okay with him going to travel! But then again, she probably got lonely.

He was feeling really torn, he didn't know whether he was feeling guilty about leaving her or the homesickness he had felt during _his _travels was finally coming to the surface. What he did know for sure though, was that he felt like an idiot. There was no reason to cry, he wasn't even that sort of person! So why was he breaking down now?

"What's wrong, Red?" He shook his head and tried to wipe away the stupid stubborn tears. It was so embarrassing, he hated crying! But he just felt so guilty about leaving and was so glad to be home. That was another aspect to this, the relief of being home.

_'I'm going to go to Professor Oak's like you suggested,' _He mumbled, standing up from his spot. He couldn't sit here any longer, he'd just keep crying and that wouldn't be very pleasant. His mother smiled, a little confused as to what was happening, but not offended. She'd learnt not to press for answers from him until he was ready, she wouldn't get anywhere with that.

Red walked out the house, and stood in the driveway, feeling even worse now. He'd just left without even thanking his mother for the cake and the effort she'd gone through, he was a terrible son. This caused a fresh lot of tears to make their way down his cheeks. He wiped them away and took a deep breath. He just had to steady himself and then he'd be okay, yeah? He closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing in and out, taking the attention off crying. Eventually he was able to calm down enough and deemed himself presentable enough to go and visit the Professor.

His laboratory was just down the end of the road, so it didn't take him long to get there. The familiar white walls and tiles made him smile slightly (or maybe he was just a little hysterical from the crying still), and he couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic. He'd spent many hours here with Green when he was younger, and this was where his trainer journey had begun. He wondered if Pikachu remembered it?

"Red! I haven't seen you in months!" The familiar voice interrupted his thoughts and he smiled at the Professor standing in the hallway. "Not since I gave you that Pikachu in fact," He patted the top of Pikachu's head, making the creature pur in appreciation. "I can tell that you two are good friends and you seem to have done a remarkable job at taming it, pokemon don't usually sit on their owner's shoulders like that," Red grinned and pulled out his trainer case, showing Oak the seven badges inside. It was nice to have some confirmation of how you were doing, especially since he didn't believe he was much good still.

"I knew I made a good decision when I gave it to you instead of Green," He commented, clearly pleased with his achievements. Red was unsure what to feel about this statement - on one hand he was super glad to be considered more highly that Green, but it didn't seem right because this was his 'friend's' grandfather, not his.

But that aside, now he was at the lab, he should probably get to the point. He motioned to a piece of paper sitting on Oak's desk, and when given the affirmative, wrote down the reason he was here.

_'What's Mewtwo?'_

Oak's reaction was strange, he smiled, but it wasn't very happy. Okay, so Red's hunch about disaster was right. "There's quite a lot to tell actually," He said, tilting his head in the direction of a chair for Red to take a seat. "I think it was about twenty-five years ago now, a team of scientists discovered a new pokemon in South America. They'd never come across anything like it before, so they took it back to their lab in Cinnabar to experiment on. They called it Mew,"

* * *

_"Quit the cruelty!" Samuel shouted, trying to make his voice stand out amongst the others who were all yelling similar things. "We do not believe pokemon should be subject to such abusive experiments!" He'd been at this for days, protesting with all the others. At first it had just been all the scientists in the region picketing, but as awareness grew about the situation, the crowd had gotten much larger and even professionals from Johto had come across._

_Samuel hated what was going on inside that building, it was so wrong. Pokemon were living creatures, it was not okay for them to be cruelly experimented on like this. He'd heard that they were trying to make a clone of Mew and were subjecting it to all sorts of electroshock tests. He was totally disgusted and told himself that he'd never become that sort of scientist, that he'd focus on the positives aspects of pokemon and humans. They deserved to be respected, not treated like dirt._

_He pushed forward to the front of the crowd so he was standing in a row with many of the other scientists and waved his sign around near the windows. How could they ignore the protesting that was going on? Weren't they getting through at all? This was not a humane way to study pokemon, how would they like it if they were tested like that?_

_"Listen to us!" He screamed in desperation now, something had to be done! "You're going to cause more harm than good!"_

_"Please!" A different voice chorused with his now, and Samuel looked around to find who it belonged to. It was a young boy, probably of around fifteen or so, shouting into the windows next to him. When he noticed Samuel staring, he looked up and smiled, but the previous expression of anger still lingered on his features. "Hi, Professor Oak!" He exclaimed. "I'm Elm! I really admire all the work you do and I kind of hope to become a professor when I'm older,"_

_"Well, thank you," Samuel replied, a little taken aback. He'd only really started his studies recently and he didn't know people had even heard about them, so he found it quite flattering that someone actually was inspired by them. Too bad it was at an unfortunate time though, he would have liked to talk to this Elm character more. "Maybe we'll have a chance to have a chat later, this might go on for a while,"_

_"Tell me about it," He sighed, starting to wave his own sign around. "I'm just as annoyed as you are about it," They turned back towards the building, and this was where Samuel made a critical mistake, one he'd regretted his whole life. He stepped forward and peered in through the window to have a look at what was happening. Though there were across the other side of the room, he saw three men all crowded around a table with test tubes, pouring coloured liquid. There was a pink creature hovering inside a larger tube, curled up and shaking. He assumed this was Mew. One of the men then poured some of the liquid he'd been measuring onto Mew. It begun to shake even more and almost appeared as if it was having a seizure._

_He felt like he was going to be sick, so they were conducting things just as bad as he'd thought they had been. He wished he'd never stepped forward, he didn't need that graphic confirmation, it was too much. But it only made his anger worse, something had to be done about this, it was not right._

* * *

"That was when I decided to study pokemon-human relationships," Oak chuckled. "I didn't want to be a part of something like that. You know what the kicker was though? That they were funded by the government to do those things, so as you can imagine, everyone was pretty annoyed at them too. It's not really suprising they weren't re-elected at the next election, which was conveniently two months after all that,"

Red shuddered, he knew that the destruction of that building hadn't be nice. He felt a little creeped out from being inside a place where unpleasant things happened, what if Mew still lived there? That was freaky. He was even more relieved to be away from Cinnabar now. That place was forever haunted and tainted for him, even though it was so long ago that it happened. He shivered again, he couldn't believe that such things could happen to pokemon like that! It angered him, almost as much as Team Rocket did.

* * *

_"The research laboratory on Cinnabar Island suffered a large catastrophe this morning when one of the experiments that was being conducted inside exploded and started a fire. Four of the six people working inside at the time were killed while the other two are being treated for critical injuries at the local hospital,"_

_"Serves them right!" Samuel yelled at the television, crossing his arms, obviously pleased. "They didn't deserve to survive after what they were doing in there,"_

_"I know you weren't happy with what was happening, sweetie, but be careful what you say," His wife laced her fingers into his, looking at him in concern._

_"Why?" He asked, frowning at her. "You know how they weren't respecting the pokemon and how bad that is!" She just sighed and kissed him on the cheek. She had always been the one that had brought him back down to earth whenever he got too annoyed or involved with something, so he could never be frustrated with her, even with something like this. So instead of retorting again, he just squeezed her hand and held onto it tightly._

* * *

"Of course she was right, I was just young and stupid," He said, glancing at the old photo of her on his desk. "I've always regretted saying that too, I shouldn't have been so critical of human life. They were doing terrible things, but they didn't deserve to die. Do you understand?"

Red pulled his knees up to his chest, trying to stop the little ache that had appeared there. He was still appalled by these scientists, but he also was feeling bad for the Professor. He had loved his wife so dearly, and Red had even been quite fond of her himself. He pulled the piece of paper towards him and scrawled quickly: _'I miss her too,' _Though the Professor was speaking in that almost baby way (which he couldn't really help), Red didn't blame him this time. He was sad.

Oak smiled at his note, running a hand through his hair. "They don't know if Mewtwo survived the explosion," He continued. "Considering it caused it itself, but the majority of people believe that it is still out there somewhere. It would take a really special trainer to find it though, it's quite dangerous. As for Mew, there have been no reports on it since the incident,"

_'Thank you,' _Red scribbled on the note and then stood up. He believed that Mewtwo was still out there somewhere and that it probably wasn't as bad a creature as the Professor and those journal entries said. But that didn't mean he was going to go and look for it, the very thought frightened him a little. If he was still creeped out about the mansion in Cinnabar, then there would be no way he could ever confront the thing that had caused it.

"I'm glad you came round, Red. It was good to see how you're progressing as a trainer," The nodded to each other a little awkwardly as the Professor often didn't know how to talk with Red. He then turned away and left the lab and once he was outside, he realised that it was quite late in the day. His instincts kicked in and he knew that he should be getting home, his mother didn't like him being out after dark. He started jogging and in no time he found himself back at his house.

He wandered in through the door, suddenly remembering how awkwardly he'd left earlier. He felt his cheeks heat up and he stopped in his tracks, trying to regain his composure and work out how to approach the situation. He'd probably be asked about what had happened and then he'd have no real explanation other than that he wasn't normal. Eventually he gathered up enough courage and stuck his head around the lounge room doorframe.

"Hey, Red," His mother smiled, looking up from her book.

_'I'm sorry,'_

"It's okay," A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Would you like some cake _now?_"

* * *

**Oh yeah, it says that Delia owned Pallet Town's only restaurant, so I'm gonna figure that Red's mum was going to as well. Or rather I just liked the idea and decided to steal it, haha.**


	43. Viridian City

I've updated so quickly with the past three chapters, I think it's because I don't want to study, haha.

Speaking of, here's my exam timetable (I want to cry). Tomorrow - Drama mock prac. Wednesday - English mock. Thursday - Modern History mock. Friday - Media mock. The following Saturday - Drama prac, then sometime after that Drama written mock.

And theeeeeeen in about two weeks after that Modern History, English, Media and Drama. Thanks for listening to me complain!

And once again, thank you to all my reviewers!

* * *

**Chapter 39: Family**

"I knew he'd find out sometime," Red's mother sighed, shaking her head. "I didn't want him to, but I suppose it was inevitable,"

* * *

Red was in Viridian City for the third time, and he was hoping with all his heart that there was a gym leader now. The first time he'd come, all those months ago, he'd run up to the door and tried to open it, finding it locked. He had thought that it might have just been closed for the day, but then a man had told him that the leader was away. This had annoyed Red, but he'd figured there was no use in hanging around, so he travelled up to Pewter. When he came back to Viridian a few weeks ago, he had certainly been glad that he hadn't hung around, because the leader was still not there. He was annoyed even further by this, how irresponsible to leave a gym unattended like that for so long. It was very inconvenient for all the passing trainers.

He stood in front of said gym now, wanting to reach for the door, but not at the same time. He wanted to get inside, this was his last badge! - but he didn't want to be faced with that disappointment of it not being open again. So he stood out the front, staring at the door for a good five minutes, and then took a deep breath and reached for the doorhandle. It started to turn and then voila! It was unlocked! Red breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. This was remarkable! He'd hadn't been expecting it to open.

The inside of the gym appeared somewhat like a warehouse, as if it wasn't quite completed yet. There were trainers stationed around the place, leaning against the walls and appearing quite bored. It was different to all the other gyms he'd been inside which were really formal, this one just appeared makeshift. But what concerned him the most was the spinner arrows placed on the ground. They were exactly the same as the ones that he'd had to try and navigate in the Team Rocket base in Celadon. Seeing them unnerved him a little, bringing back not so pleasant memories.

But he dismissed everything and just concentrated on the rising excitement he was feeling. This was the final badge he had to earn, then he could finally challenge the Pokemon League! He'd been dreaming of that his _whole _life, and the thought of it being so close made him want to jump up and down. He was almost there! A grin spread slowly across his face and he felt a newfound confidence. He was completely focused, totally ready. He could do this.

Red stepped forward onto one of the spinning platforms, and closed his eyes. He would do all he could not to become dizzy, he couldn't afford any distractions at the moment. He felt himself stop moving and opened his eyes one by one. Standing in front of him was one of the trainers who was narrowing his eyes in annoyance. He didn't seem very thrilled about having to battle him.

"You want a fight?" He sneered, pulling a pokeball out his pocket. Red nodded. "Well, prepare yourself. Your pokemon will cower before my might," He released an Arbok in front of him. He reached into his bag and pulled out his own pokeball, releasing Charizard. The dragon looked down on the other creature, snorting in contempt. Red chuckled, it still had somewhat of that attitude that it had had at the very beginning of his travels. It respected him now, but still didn't really like battling anything it deemed unworthy.

_'Use Flamethrower, buddy,' _He said. It stepped forward and reared it's head, roaring. It was rather loud, but no one else in the gym really took any notice, they were probably used to this sort of thing.

"Acid, Arbok!" The guy yelled, pointing at Charizard. Red didn't like the way he talked to his pokemon, it was too harsh. Even though Arbok looked intimidating, Red bet that it wasn't very happy. The guy had a whip sitting by his feet, for goodness sake! That upset Red too, that wasn't the right way to treat these creatures, it was just...wrong and he would never, ever use one. Speaking of, what sort of gym leader would allow their trainers to carry whips? It didn't seem very professional.

Despite being the first to command, Charizard was a little too slow and Arbok slithered up to it, hitting it with a large stream of black gunk. It winced in pain, looking back at Red for support. He smiled at it, trying to cover the worry he was feeling himself. Whenever one of his pokemon got hurt, he always felt a little concerned. Charizard was a good sport though, and continued with its attack. It was a direct hit too, the flames landing right in the middle of Arbok's chest.

_'Once more quickly!' _Red instructed, watching the creature try and lift itself up from the ground. If he managed to hit it again while it was unprepared, then he'd have the upper hand in the battle. Charizard nodded and unleashed the same attack. This time Arbok didn't attempt to move, it just lay there, unable to battle anymore. The guy withdrew it, grumbling and glaring at Red.

"I was just careless!" He muttered, leaning back against the wall. Red just raised an eyebrow and walked past him. One trainer down, God knows how many more to go.

* * *

_You've got to be kidding me. You've got to be fucking kidding me _- is what was running through Red's mind at this exact moment. There was no way that Giovanni could be the leader of the Viridian gym. No fucking way. He'd thought he'd managed to get rid of this guy back in Saffron City, but obviously he hadn't. Why must he follow him around though? Could he not have one ounce of normalcy in his travels? Why was he so wrapped up in the affairs of a criminal organisation? It's not like he'd had anything to do with them before this, so why him?

But just the sight alone of Giovanni made him angry and he was rather looking forward to beating him.

"Happy belated birthday, son," He greeted him, smiling politely. Why was he smiling and how did he know it had been his birthday? Red was freaking out. "You probably don't understand the gravity of that statement and think I'm just calling you son in a friendly manner. But that's not quite true, because I mean it in the most literal sense,"

Huh? What did that even mean? Red stared up at him, confused and angry. He wasn't insinuating...was he?

"I expected that reaction from you, because well, I am your dad after all," And that was when everything Red had ever known fell apart and landed in tiny little pieces at his feet. He was the _son _of the leader of Team Rocket! The organisation he had so hated and tried his hardest to bring down. The _evil _organisation that were trying to take over all of Kanto. And now he was related to the guy who was _in charge _of it all. This was not good, no, this was the worst thing that could ever happen to him, it meant he was half evil.

Suddenly Red didn't know who he was anymore, and that made him want to yell and scream. So he did. He screamed until he had no air left, and until everyone in the gym was looking at him. But he didn't care because he didn't know what was happening. And now his throat was hurting, he'd never made noise like that in his life. It wasn't right, that wasn't who he was. But just _who _was he? There was that question again.

But Giovanni was still just standing there, smirking and looking down at him. "I'm surprised you didn't know," He raised an eyebrow at the tears running down Red's cheeks. "I thought you would have caught on, you're a smart kid. But you know now, so all's well,"

Red stared up at him, not knowing what to think. This man was the evil boss of a crime syndicate - mafia even, but he was also his father. So this is where he came from, he hated it. He never wanted anything to do with Giovanni to begin with, and now that was just intensified. Why did this have to happen to him? Why did whoever was up there decide to make him the son of Team Rocket? He didn't feel like he was a good person anymore, or that he even had any right to be one.

He stood there and his mind briefly drifted to his family. Well, it was usually just his mother and him, but now Giovanni was standing there with them. It didn't look right, and the thought of it made him feel physically ill. He wanted to be sick. His mind then drifted to Mia. She had been crying about her father being a member of Team Rocket, and he had thought that was pretty bad. And now well, _his_ father was the leader. The fucking _leader!_

"This rightfully makes you the heir to Team Rocket," He commented. "But I doubt you could ever be, you're too compassionate, it wouldn't succeed. And you don't speak, that's a weakness that would have to change. It shows the world you're afraid of it,"

No, no, no! He was getting it all wrong! That wasn't why at all! Red squeezed his eyes shut, trying to remember what his mum had said about Giovanni. It was something like _"don't let him get to you,"_, and he could see why she'd said that now. He took a deep breath, trying to supress his rising anger. It wouldn't do any good to act on that right now.

"I'd give the position to Silver," He mused. "He's your half-brother. He lives in Johto and would do a better job," What? So now he had a brother? What else could change in his life today? Red didn't even know who Red was anymore. Did Red, the heir to Team Rocket deserve all these League badges? Surely not, good people deserved them, not ones related to evil. "Silver is three years younger than you, so he's still got a while to wait," Giovanni knew that his was eating Red up, and the smile on his face was just making it worse.

So did he just get around from region to region having children? Great, what a jerk. Not only was he the boss of a huge criminal organisation, he liked to dodge responsibility. Red didn't want to turn out anything like him, and it made him feel sick with the thought of it. But all the unusual facts he'd worried about all made sense. Giovanni knowing all those things about him, and his mother knowing about _Giovanni. _It was plain to see now, he was right. How had he not caught on before? All that was left was what had actually happened, and he had no idea what it was.

"Son," Red shook his head, getting faster and faster. He wasn't allowed to call him that!

_'Pikachu,' _He said, his hands shaking like crazy. Did he make sense? It seemed to understand though and stepped in front of him, baring it's teeth at Giovanni. It seemed rather reluctant to be out there besides that, and seemed a little concerned for his wellbeing. But Red wouldn't have that right now. He was too furious to have a battle with less than one hundred percent effort. Giovanni just nodded and released his Persian in front of him.

_'Thunder, Volt Tackle, everything,' _He commanded. _'Use everything you know until you can't,' _He wasn't even thinking about what he was doing, he was just focused on defeating his "dad" as fast as possible. Pikachu began to spark and soon the whole gym was lit up with bright yellow light. There was a static noise and then Persian whined, it's legs buckling as it fell to the floor. Eventually everything subsided and Pikachu was left standing there, panting heavily and appearing rather exhausted. Red was too blinded by his anger to notice this though, and all he saw was that Persian hadn't fainted yet. _'Do that again, buddy!' _Reluctantly, it picked itself up and sparked again. It wasn't nearly as powerful as the first time, but it knocked Persian out.

Unfortunately it also knocked Pikachu out. The creature cried out before it collapsed to the ground. Red sighed, Pikachu was his strongest, and now he was down one. He was so preoccupied it didn't even cross his mind that this was the first time Pikachu had fainted since his battle with Brock. You know, the battle where he had told himself to be more careful to not go overboard and harm his pokemon. It seemed like he'd just gone in a full circle now, he was back to where he began.

He pulled out another ball, releasing Charizard out onto the field. Giovanni took out a Nidoqueen, and for once, Charizard seemed evenly matched size-wise.

"Earthquake!" He yelled, and Nidoqueen began stomping the ground.

_'Fly up and then use all the fire moves you know! Don't stop until you can't do anything more, we need to defeat him!' _He said, staring angrily at the man across the other side of the room. Charizard flapped its wings, narrowly avoiding the Earthquake attack. It opened it's mouth and began to attack Nidoqueen with everything it knew, only stopping to take breaths. Eventually it had to stop hovering and stand back on the ground and then stop attacking. It was exhausted, just like Pikachu had been. _'Don't stop!' _He yelled. _'We have to keep going, buddy,' _It nodded reluctantly (which annoyed Red, it didn't understand the seriousness of this!), but when it tried to attack once again, fell to the ground.

And that's how the battle progressed. Red pushing his pokemon too far so they fainted after each attack, but also making Giovanni's unable to battle in the process. Red was still so overwhelmed by the situation, that he didn't notice the errors he was making. Soon enough though, he had two pokemon left - Lapras and Snorlax, and Giovanni only had his Rhydon. Red reached for one of his pokeballs, and without realising which one he took, released Snorlax.

As the giant creature came onto the field, Red became hyper alert of the situation. He'd never actually used Snorlax in a battle before as he had been too frightened to release it (after the events with Pikachu and all), and right not was not the ideal time. But he couldn't exactly turn back now, it was already out and everything. But it didn't really understand sign language or anything, so what could he do? He frowned and just pointed to Rhydon, hopefully indicating that he wanted it to attack.

It seemed to understand, and being a good sport (he had expected it to turn on him) stood up. It took two slow steps towards Rhydon and then just fell down onto it. After what felt like hours, it eventually stood back up, revealing an unconscious Rhydon. But that meant...he had won! But he wasn't overjoyed or anything, he was just glad to have beat Giovanni _again._

"That was a truly intense fight, my son," He said, walking over to Red. "I'm proud of how you've done, you're turning out more and more like me," And that was when Red did what he'd wanted to do the whole time. He raised his fist and punched his father right in the middle of his face. He grinned in satisfaction, watching him stumble back in surprise. "As proof of your win, here's the Earth badge," Despite just being attacked, he remained relatively calm and dropped the little green pendant into Red's outstretched hand. He stuffed it into his pocket, not feeling any sort of excitement or happiness about having everything he needed now.

He still just felt lost.

He quickly recalled Snorlax and then picked up Pikachu, who had been lying at his feet the whole time. He turned around to leave the gym, when Giovanni's voice continued to echo behind him. "Having lost, I cannot face my underlings, Team Rocket is finished forever! I will dedicate my life to training again, and I hope we meet again, Red,"

_No. _They were not going to meet again, Red didn't want anything to do with this man. They may be blood related, but it didn't mean that Giovanni was any sort of a dad. He never would be either, Red _hated _him and everything he stood for. He broke into a sprint here, wanting to leave the gym as fast as possible. He couldn't stand to stay in such a place anymore, it was where everything had become different. Where everything he had known had disappeared.

Once he was out of the gym, he pulled the badge out of his pocket and his trainer case out his bag. He placed it into its position, and then, acting on emotion, threw the case on the ground, sending the badges scattering. He stared down at them, taking a deep breath. He didn't deserve them, _good _people deserved them. He was a strong trainer because he was related to a strong trainer, not because of his own ability or willpower.

He stood there for a moment and then fell down to his knees, scrambling to collect the little charms. He had earnt them, they were rightfully his, but he still felt he didn't deserve them. He was torn - half of him was good, the other half was bad. Once he'd collected all the badges back up, he walked slowly down the street towards the Pokecentre. He'd started thinking about the way he'd battled with Giovanni, and how his pokemon were so exhausted. He'd pushed them too far, but he'd been way too angry to even notice what was happening. And the result had been that they'd all fainted terribly.

Red had told himself back in Pewter City to be more careful with his battling, and now it seems he'd just disregarded everything he'd learnt just because of his stupid emotions. He was still such an amateur trainer, he wasn't wise or anything. No matter how grown up he would try to act, he was still just a kid. He looked down at Pikachu and wanted to cry, the creature just looked so helpless lying there, unable to move. And this was his fault too. He traced the scar extending from its eye to its cheek, and shivered. He still felt guilty about that too.

But that was Red from Pallet Town, not stupid Red the Team Rocket heir. Was he still the same guy?

He walked into the Pokecentre and placed Pikachu and his other pokeballs onto the counter. The Nurse smiled at him and assessed Pikachu's condition. Her expression soon changed into a frown though, and she shook her head. Red bit his lip, that couldn't be a good sign.

"You might have to stay here for a while, your pokemon are quite injured,"

* * *

**So, some of you will probably go off at me for this, but I thought it made it interesting! In Pokemon Live in was confirmed that Delia had dated Giovanni as a teenager (and she had Ash when she was 19), so all these theories popped up that Giovanni was Ash's dad. Anyway, I figure that because Red's mother is the game counterpart of Delia and so forth, that it still stands for her. So voila, there we go! Hopefully I made it intense enough, it didn't seem quite right to me.**


	44. Viridian City 2

Hmm, I had so much issue writing this. I could not think of anything to write whatsoever despite it being kind of an eventful chapter. I think it's because I've had to write the equivalent of ten essays in the past three days. My brain is broken and I don't know English anymore.

But if you guys will give me some feedback, that'd be great. If you don't like it, I'll happily re-write it and make it better. I'm on holidays again now so I have a bit more time.  
**  
Anyway, I wanna give a shout out :D I have a lovely reviewer called OkonoMiyagi. He always write the sweetest reviews and gives me constructive criticism. I really appreciate it, brah. Also, you should read his Gym Leader Wiki fic, it's so good, and a great concept too!**

And thanks to all my other reviewers, you've been fabulous! (And sorry if the last chapter was rushed, in hindsight, I should have made it better)

Sorry for uploading a few times, I made some edits.

* * *

**Chapter 40: Stress**

_'Am I glad that I found out Giovanni was my dad?' _Red repeated the question, tilting his head to the side. _'Not at all. I would have much preferred to go through my life not knowing who my other parent was. I was happy with that,'_

* * *

Red stared at Pikachu as he paced the room, it fast asleep in the bed. It seemed to be having somewhat of a hard time breathing and had several cuts and bruises, but the nurses were keeping a constant eye on it, as well as his other pokemon too. He couldn't believe he had battled like that though, that he'd been _able _to. He had put aside his pokemons' health and safety just because he was immature and angry. Now he was just annoyed with himself, he had behaved so selfishly! And look what had happened, his pokemon (par Laprass and Snorlax, of course) were in a terrible way, and it was all his fault. He'd been such an idiot - never again would he put himself first like that.

Each time Pikachu took a breath he wanted to cry. But he didn't, he wouldn't let himself. If he did, he knew he'd lose it and make an idiot out of himself even further. But the thought of losing any of his pokemon made him want to break down. He didn't think he'd be able to survive if it happened, the Snorlax incident had been bad enough. It couldn't happen, he wouldn't let his pokemon...die! It wasn't going to happen, not after all they'd been through! It wasn't fair! He scrunched up his fists, angry at himself for being so selfish.

It was because he was Giovanni's son, wasn't it? He was technically half-bad, and that had certainly shone through a few hours ago. And what had come as a result? His pokemon super-injured. He was still shellshocked over the discovery though, and was growing to dislike it even further (if that was possible). It made him feel dirty, he hated Team Rocket so much! They were so cruel to pokemon and he had worked so hard to bring them down, so why him? _Why? _He just couldn't comprehend how it had happened. And what was Silver like? He'd been an only child until now, so it was really weird.

He stopped walking around the room (he'd been doing that for about half an hour now and the other trainers in the room appeared a little weirded out) and took a seat next to the bed. He patted Pikachu's head, his hand shaking. He willed it to show some improvement, it was distressing to see it so still and lacking in any sort of liveliness. Oh what he would give just to see it healthy again. He couldn't bring himself to think of what would happen if it were to pass on (he couldn't even think the word), as the thought alone was unbearable. What would he do then? Actually, he'd probably give up being a trainer. It just wouldn't be the same without Pikachu or any of his others.

He'd been keeping track of Pikachu's breathing pattern the whole time, making sure that it was still okay. He was doing _everything _to make sure that it would (hopefully) pull through, and so far it was _breathe in, one, two, breathe out. _But now it wasn't that! It had taken one second longer - _breathe in, one, two, three, breathe out. _That wasn't good! On a whim of distress, the scooped the little creature up into his arms and ran towards the front counter where the nurses were, his heart pounding in his chest. He was feeling almost as unwell as his pokemon were at this point, but he had to save it! It had to be okay!

Red placed it down softly onto the counter and pointed at it, his eyes widening. Most of the time he liked not talking, but it was times like this that he really wished that maybe he could just say something. This was Pikachu's life at stake here!

The nurse tilted her head to the side in confusion and Red sighed and pointed to the little mouse again. She shrugged her shoulders and felt for its heartbeat. Red bit his lip and curled his hands up, he was so anxious! And the seconds seemed to be taking twice as long, what was with that? But what if its heart had stopped beating? It couldn't die! No!

"Your Pikachu is fine," She said, smiling slightly. "It's just tired, that's all," He breathed out in relief but blushed a little in embarrassment, he'd never been so glad to hear those words in his life. He picked it back up and wandered back to place it in bed. Yeah, maybe he had overreacted a little, but he was genuinely concerned about his pokemon!

"Don't worry so much, it'll get better and be back to normal in a few days," Red looked up to find the same nurse standing next to him. When had she gotten here? He hadn't heard her footsteps. "But I've never seen someone so concerned before," He shrugged his shoulders, not really able to muster up a polite smile. He reached out and patted Pikachu's head again, he wasn't at all reassured despite just finding out that its heartrate was fine (he love to exaggerate though, remember?).

"We have cases worse than this everyday," She continued, obviously realising how nervous he felt. But Red bet that she didn't know that he'd just found out that this dad was the boss of the biggest criminal organisation in the region, the one he'd worked _so hard _to bring down, risking his own safety because he'd hated what they stood for ever since his run-in with them in Mount Moon all those months ago. Yeah, he bet she didn't know that. "It'll be fine, I promise," He nodded, just so she'd leave him alone. He knew that she was just trying to be helpful, but he didn't really want that right now, he just wanted everything to go back to normal again. How it had been yesterday.

She walked away, and for the first time since he'd gotten here, Red noticed all the other trainers in the room. They were all sitting by the beds their pokemon were in, some talking to the other people or their _pokemon_, a few were sitting silently and one girl was praying. If he wasn't feeling so stressed himself, Red would have thought the whole situation rather morbid. But he just sighed and turned back to Pikachu. Charizard, Blastoise and Ivysaur were in the beds next to it, and were all in a similar state. Oh how he hated himself right now, how could he have let this happen?

His eyes drifted to the unoccupied phone in the corner of the room. _'I'll be right back, buddy,' _He said, knowing full well that Pikachu couldn't see him. He stood up and made his way over to said phone. It had not been free since he'd gotten here, so he figured that it was now or never to call his mother. He dialed in his home number and waited for her to appear on the screen.

"Good afternoon, Red!" Oh God, what would he say to her? He probably should have thought this through before he'd dialed. He _wanted _to know what had happened between her and Giovanni, but he didn't know how to bring it up. And it would be so awkward, it probably wouldn't even be worth it. He _was _feeling pretty crappy, but he didn't want to worry her. This was his issue, not hers. Wait, so why had he called her again? What was he even going to say? "What's wrong, dear? You look like you're about to burst into tears,"

He frowned, she could always tell exactly what he was feeling and it was rather annoying sometimes. He probably should have taken that into account before he had called. _'Giovanni's my dad,' _Well, he might as well just say it now. There was no point in just beating around the bush.

"What?"

_'Giovanni's my dad, you should have said something,'_

She sighed, shaking her head. "How did you find out?"

_'He told me. He's the gym leader of the Viridian Gym and I just battled him,' _He mumbled, not wanting to look up at the phone screen. He was a little embarrassed now, he hated confrontations like this. _'He told me and I kind of freaked out and pushed my pokemon too far so we could beat him, and now they're really sick and in the Pokecentre, and what if they die, mum?' _His gestures had sped up now and he wondered if she could understand what he was saying.

"They're not going to die, sweetie," She said. "They're in safe hands now, and I'm sure you think they're worse than they are," Everyone was saying that! It wasn't very comforting at all though and she was being awfully calm about the situation.

_'How is Giovanni my dad, mum?' _Was she still trying to avoid the question like she had been when he had visited her a couple of weeks ago. He could see why she did then, but there really wasn't any need to now, was there?

She didn't answer straight away, and Red felt a little annoyed. He wanted straight facts this time, he figured this was a pretty important situation. A minute later she sighed again and looked up at him through the screen. "We dated for a few months when we were eighteen. I fell pregnant with you and told him, then he broke it off. That's all there was to it,"

_'Mum, how could you have dated someone like him!' _He exclaimed, his mouth hanging agape. Though to be fair, he couldn't really be that angry, if they hadn't, he wouldn't have been here. The whole situation was confusing him though, he'd always looked up to his mother, and now well...yeah. _'He's evil! And I'm his son!'_

"You're not his son, Red, you're my son," She smiled slightly. "I don't think it's fair to say he's your father, even if he _technically _is," She laughed. "And as for dating him? I was young and he was good looking. I didn't have any idea he was going to become the leader of Team Rocket,"

_'I don't like that he's technically my dad though, it means I'm half-bad, mum!' _He was frantic now. _'I don't want to turn out like him when I'm older,'_

"You're not ever going to be like him," She said with a strange determination. "And you're not half-bad. I've raised you to be good, and that's not ever going to change. Just look how you brought _down _Team Rocket, would a bad person do that?" Red couldn't help but smile a little at this, she was making a fair point. "People aren't born bad, and you're a good person, Red,"

But he still wasn't entirely convinced. You couldn't control your genetics, could you? He did have a rather strong sense of what was right and wrong, but that could all change. He was feeling quite confused and disappointed with the situation. _'Thanks, mum,' _He smiled, hoping that she wouldn't pick up on him not quite being completely reassured yet.

"Don't you have eight badges now?" He nodded in response. Well, that conversation had been over quickly. She didn't seem to realise how worried Red actually was or how bad he was feeling about the situation. He didn't know whether to feel glad that he hadn't upset her or annoyed that she wasn't trying to comfort him. He decided to go with the former, there was no point in being angry for no good reason, was there? "Red, you can go verse the Elite Four now!" He nodded again, not really wanting to get into this conversation. He didn't much feel like he actually was entitled to defeat the Elite Four, the Champion deserved to be a _fully _good person.

_'I'm going to go, mum,' _He said. _'Love you, bye,' _And then he hung up and switched the screen off. He wandered back to where Pikachu was sleeping and patted its head. That conversation didn't really accomplish anything, but he believed her when she had said that there hadn't been anything else between her and Giovanni. She wouldn't lie to him about something like that. He sighed, that feeling of guilt coming back over him. Pikachu still didn't look any better than it had been before and it wasn't showing any signs of waking up.

Oh dear, why couldn't it just open its eyes or something?

But speaking of opening eyes, in the corner of _Red's _eye, he saw Charizard twitching. His heart leapt up and his breath got caught in his chest, was it okay? He stood up and ran over to the side of the bed, a grin spreading across his face. It was waking up! Its eyelids began to tremble a little, and pretty soon it was looking up at him, smiling.

Red didn't think he'd ever been so relieved in his whole life (he was much more relieved than he had been about Pikachu before). He exhaled loudly, realising that he'd been holding his breath the whole time and his heart slowed down to a normal pace. Charizard wasn't going to die! It was okay! In a few hours or days it would probably be back to where it was before he'd been stupid. An even goofier grin made its way onto his face, and he wanted to jump up and down. He was _so _relieved! _So _happy!

And his pokemon weren't going to die! They were going to be okay!

* * *

Red could honestly say the past three days had been the crappiest ones he'd ever had. Pikachu had woken up the day following his unpleasant discovery of paternity, and if he thought the relief he felt when Charizard had woken up was big, it really did not compare to what he felt when Pikachu did. He had wanted to pick up the little creature and spin it around, but he couldn't because it was still rather unwell. And as for the days being crappy, they were because he had been so nervous about his pokemon not getting better.

He'd sat by their beds the whole time, not renting a room or anything. It was the least he could do considering that it was his fault that they were here in the first place. So he was really exhausted, sitting up whilst sleeping does not make you any less tired. Because he was so tired, he hadn't really noticed them improving, so on the third evening, it came as a complete surprise when Pikachu jumped up onto his shoulder and nuzzled into his cheek.

He patted Pikachu's head and for the first time in a few days, he was actually feeling kind of happy. And he felt a little silly for overreacting, his pokemon never were going to die, they were just really exhausted. Kind of like him right now. Speaking of, he should probably go to bed now that everyone was okay. He nodded to himself (being tired kind of made him a little delirious) and stood up. They'd all be okay in this room with the other pokemon tonight, they weren't ill anymore.

Now that he'd had some time to think, he felt a little silly about believing he'd turn out like Giovanni. He really didn't like the fact that he was his did, but you could control what happened with yourself, and he was going to do everything within his power to go in the opposite direction he had. He would do _everything _to stop that from happening. Sure, he'd been a selfish kid, but he could learn from his mistakes, couldn't he? This was definitely felt like a turning point, he wasn't going to battle like that again in a hurry, no matter how dire the situation. He _was _a good person.

* * *

**Geeeez Red, you're such a drama queen. Seriously, teenagers who think their lives suck bug me, haha. And yes, I know I wrote Red that way. I feel a bit like a hypocrite.**


	45. Route 22

Yay! I updated quickly! Come on, pleaseeeee 9 more reviews! :D

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. I felt like I improved a little with this chapter, haha. But I don't know. This story isn't getting boring at all, is it? I really hope not.

**Also, ideas! I can't think of any ideas for interludes, so I'd love some suggestions!**

And sorry for any spelling mistakes, I don't really re-read stuff, and it's all written in wordpad, so no spellcheck either.**  
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* * *

**Chapter 41: Horizon**

"When Red told me his dad was Giovanni, I freaked out," Green laughed. "I didn't really show it, but inside I couldn't believe it! It was like some bizarre twist of fate you'd find in a soap opera. I mean, how could his mother even, you know...with him. It's weird. But anyway, the Pokemon League was looming on the horizon for both of us. That was rather exciting, though I never actually got sad when he beat me. I always thought I would be, but I was never really. He just had it so much harder than everyone else,"

* * *

After those few eventful days, Red's pokemon appeared much better and his confidence had been restored a little. Though the excitement of actually being able to challenge (not necessarily winning) the Elite Four was still missing, he wasn't feeling too bad about the whole situation anymore. And considering the route that would lead to the Pokemon League was just west of Viridian, Red figured that he might as well just go there now. It would take him a day or two to actually get _to _the front gate of the League, and by that time, Pikachu and the rest would be completely better.

He'd been walking along there all day now and felt like he'd made no progress whatsoever. The scenery all looked exactly the same and he couldn't even see the League building in the distance! It was about six now anyway and he wanted to give up. He was exhausted still from not getting adequate sleep these past few days and had no patience at all. He attempted to push on for another ten minutes or so, but eventually just gave up and sat down. Tomorrow he'd try to actually find Indigo Plateau. Tomorrow he'd feel better.

Considering it was winter and the sun tended to set rather early during this particular season, by the time he sat down, it was getting dark. He unrolled his sleeping bag hastily and hopped inside it. He had nothing else to do and being outside when it was dark wasn't one of his favourite things. The less time he had to spend conscious in it, the better. Pikachu curled in next to him and he closed his eyes, the tiredness from the past few days finally catching up to him.

* * *

"Hey, Red!" Red's eyes flew open and he sat up suddenly, his head colliding with whoever had just called his name. That certainly wasn't the nicest awakening he'd had. "Ow, shit," Whoever it was mumbled, stumbling back a few steps. Red rubbed his forehead, frowning at the sudden impact and how much it was actually hurting. Once the initial surprise had passed, he peered into the distance to see who it was and came across Green, who was was holding his hand on his own forehead and muttering under his breath.

"What did you do that for?" He whined upon noticing that Red was now watching him.

_'You woke me up,' _He replied. _'I didn't mean to headbutt you, I hurt myself too though,' _He absentmindedly hopped out of his sleeping bag and began rolling it up into its cover. He was still half-asleep, and seeing Green first thing was not how his ideal morning would go. What time was it anyway? It wasn't very light, and if he had had his own way, he'd still be fast asleep. He was still kind of tired from the past few days, and he didn't like getting up this early anyway

"Well, it was a surprise seeing you here," Green shrugged his shoulders, walking over and then taking a seat next to Red, who was now leaning against a tree. "And I couldn't exactly just walk past and leave you asleep, could I?"

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Green had a point. If he hadn't woken him up, Green would have been way ahead of him (he was assuming he was heading towards the Pokemon League as well) and then how would he ever catch up? _'But it's too early,'_

"It's ten,"

_'Oh,'_

Green laughed and stood back up. "Stop being such a slacker," Red sighed and used the tree as a support to push himself into standing. He nudged Pikachu awake with his foot, and the little creature looked around, confused as to where it actually was. He chuckled quietly to himself at its confusion, but was interrupted by a yawn. He put his hand over his mouth, a little embarrassed. "Are you alright today, Red? You seem kind of tired,"

_'I am kind of tired,' _He replied, yawning again. _'But I'm awake now, so there's no point in complaining about it,' _They stood there for a moment, not really knowing what to say to one another. Red still felt guilty about Raticate whenever he talked to Green, and he could tell that the other still hadn't quite gotten over it yet. He wanted to apologise again, but was kind of scared to bring it up again. He didn't feel like getting into a fight right now. He didn't particularly want a repeat of their last encounter. _'So, I met my dad the other day,' _As soon as he had said it, he regretted it. He had learnt never to breach the father topic with Green, or even to really mention the word around him.

He noticed him twitch slightly at the statement before slowly turning around to face him. "Really?" He stared at Red for a moment before he looked to the ground nervously. Red felt instantly remorseful for bringing it up, they had both had it tough, he knew that. He had just figured Green ought to know, otherwise he'd be upset for not being told. He was somewhat of a hypocrite, that boy.

_'Yeah,' _He nodded nervously. He was worried about the reaction he would get. The last time they'd had a conversation about families, things had never been the same, but now they were a lot older. And Green, well, he had certainly grown up since he'd started travelling, but by how much? _'He's Giovanni, you know him right? The boss of Team Rocket,'_

"No way," Green's mouth fell open and he shook his head in disbelief. "Holy shit, Red. You can't be serious,"

_'I freaked out too,' _He didn't want Green to know just exactly what had happened, and how he was still rather furious over the whole thing, so he stayed still. It sounded strange saying it out loud though, as if it hadn't really been real until this. And well, that wasn't a good thing. It was one thing talking to his mum about it, but this was totally different. He felt his stomach do a flip, and he wrapped his arm around it cautiously. He _really _didn't want to be sick, but he certainly now felt like he would be. He willed it to calm down, he would not hear the end of it if he threw up now.

"Fuck," He mumbled, biting his lip. They were silent again, but it wasn't really awkward this time. Red could tell Green was thinking about the whole thing and would soon come up with something to change the topic, he always did that when something heavy was happening. He figured it was his way of dealing with stress and things he didn't like. And as for Red, he was just hoping not to throw up right then and there. "So, you're going to the Pokemon League?" There we go.

_'Yeah,'_

"You collected all the badges too?" He was staring out into the distance thoughtfully, his mind obviously elsewhere. "That's cool,"

_'Yeah,' _Dude, it was beyond cool! Red had to supress a grin here, it was not the right time and place to be gloating. But suddenly, he was feeling a little more excited! He was so close to Indigo Plateau, he could almost smell it. That still didn't help him stomach though.

"Let's have a battle," He suggested, his mood suddenly changing to that of enthusiasm. Red really worried about Green sometimes, he changed his behaviour so quickly, there had to be something else going on with him. That aspect of him hadn't changed whilst travelling, though Red was glad that they could have a civil conversation without arguing now. It had been seven years since they'd done that. Green ran over so he was about ten metres away from Red and pulled out a pokeball. "I'll use it as a warm-up to the Elite Four! Come on, Red!"

_'You woke me up ten minutes ago and expect me to battle straight away?' _Red commented, yawning again. Green nodded and Red rolled his eyes. _'Give me two seconds,' _He sat back down and ran a hand through his hair, attempting to get rid of the mess that had been created from sleeping. He ruffled it around a little and pulled his hat on, fishing out a new shirt at the same time. He didn't want to stay wearing the one he had worn last night.

He quickly glanced up at Green and noticed that he was tapping his foot impatiently. A smile tugged at the corner of Red's mouth and he slowly pulled his shirt off, knowing full well that the longer he took, the more it would wind Green up. He put the new one on and took his hat off again, running his fingers through his hair. Hey, if Green asked, he _really _didn't like bed hair.

"You already did that!" Well, right on cue. Red just grinned and slowly stood back up.

_'Okay, let's battle now,' _He sighed with great exasperation at the end for effect and ushered Pikachu behind him. _'Go, Charizard,' _He released Charizard in front of him, and Green let out an Alakazam. Suddenly, Red remembered that he hadn't wanted to battle for a few more days. What if his pokemon weren't fully better and they fainted? Surely they'd have more chance of, um, passing away this time. But he couldn't not battle now, Charizard looked excited and Green, well, that was self-explanatory.

"Use Psychic!" He yelled, pointing out into the distance. The creature raised the two spoons it was holding (Red had always wondered about these) and closed its eyes. Nothing appeared to be happening, so he figured that it was his shot.

_'Flamethrower, Charizard,' _But it didn't do anything. Red frowned, the last time he had battled Green, Charmander hadn't listened to him either. Did it not like him battling Green? Well, whatever it was, it was a _fantastic _time for it to get its attitude back. _'Just attack!' _He signed frantically. It would have been okay with anyone but Green,_ anyone. _It was then that he noticed that it wasn't moving at all. Oh, so it was Alakazam's Psychic attack. That would explain it. So what to do now? _'Er, just try and move your wings a little, and then go from there,'_

He couldn't do anything except sit back and watch now. There was no movement at first, and Green was grinning cockily at him, making it all the more frustrating. But slowly it began to twitch, and then the movements got larger and larger until it could finally walk around a little. Alakazam lowered its arms and glared at Charizard, who continued with the Flamethrower attack. It hit the other creature, who fell backwards and landed with a thud at Green's feet.

"Use Recover quickly," He said, helping it back to its feet.

* * *

The battle had been pretty even so far. Alakazam had beated his Charizard, but Blastoise had beated Alakazam. Right now they both had two left. His Ivysaur was facing off against Green's Sandslash. Quite a crowd had gathered as well, cheering them both on. No one seemed to be taking sides, but Red gathered they just wanted to watch a fight. There were about fifty people too, and Red briefly wondered what they were all doing along this route. Surely they couldn't all be wanting to challenge the Elite Four. There were so many, and what made him better than all of them? Nothing, he probably didn't stand a chance against the best.

But this wasn't the time for that, he had to concentrate on the battle at hand. _'Use Giga Drain,' _It ran forward, but it got about two steps when it suddenly froze in its tracks. Panic began to well up in Red's chest, but that was soon put to rest when a familiar white glow began to shine out of the flower on its back. A smile spread across his face, it was about time! Bulbasaur had been the first to evolve and now it was the last. But that didn't matter, it was doing it now.

The two of them watched on in awe as the glow began to subside and standing in Ivysaur's place was a much large Venusaur. Well, it certainly looked...fiercer. Everything was quiet for a moment, until someone in the crowd watching them began to clap. This slowly spread until the whole group was applauding, and even Green was smiling at the scene. Red couldn't help but feel a little proud now, he had raised this creature, and it had done him well.

It turned back to him, seemingly asking if it were to continue the attack. He just nodded and it charged forward, easily taking out Sandslash. Usually Green was a little annoyed whenever one of his pokemon fainted, but this time he just couldn't be, the situation was just too zealous. He recalled it and pulled out his final pokeball.

"You can do it, Eevee!"

Red recalled Venusaur, much to the crowd's surprise and nudged Pikachu forward. _'It's your turn, buddy. I know you've been itching to get out there this whole time,' _It nodded with determination and bounded onto the field. It was quite a strange sight, seeing such little pokemon facing off against one another. Red bet that Eevee was his toughest, as every trainer always had an attachment to their starter. Pikachu included.

"Start with Take Down!" Green called, and Eevee began to charge towards Pikachu.

_'Just before it hits you, jump behind it and use Thunder, okay?' _It waited until the very last moment, and Red could swear that their ears connected, and then leaped behind it. Before it hit the ground, it sent a large shock of thunder to Eevee. Unfortunately, it jumped out the way too and only its foot was hit by the electricity.

"Good thinking, Eevee," Green praised. Red thought this was rather odd, Green wasn't usually one for dishing out compliments like that. But once again, the starter pokemon thing. "Now use Quick Attack while it is unprepared," It darted around Pikachu and then ran headfirst into it, sending the little mouse sprawling across the field and landing near Red's feet. It got back up and shook the impact off, standing ready again.

_'You know Quick Attack too, so use it now, and then Thunder just as you collide,' _This time it was Pikachu's turn to do damage, and it sprinted forward, smack bang into Eevee. The poor creature whined in pain, but was able to get back up. This was the toughest battle Red had actually had, and he was enjoying it. It was fun to have a challenge, especially with someone like Green. For once they were on equal footing, it wasn't just the "Green show".

The fight between the two progressed like that onwards for about fifteen more minutes, and Red was surprised at how tough Pikachu actually was. Seeing it out there, he'd never been so proud. All the heartache he'd felt in the past few days was nonexistent at that moment, because he was just so happy. Pikachu was his best friend, he'd raised that thing to what it was today. And all his hard work was certainly paying off. Oh dear, he was such a sap. But if he was like this now, how would he be if he beat the Champion? He'd probably cry, and that would be rather embarrassing.

_'Thunder, once more!' _And then Eevee fainted, and he'd won. It felt surreal. Pikachu was just standing there, breathing heavily, but okay. He ran forward and picked it up, spinning it around and grinning, before placing it on his shoulder. The trainers surrounding them cheered, just happy that someone had finally won. _'Good job, buddy. You did great,'_

Green was staring down at Eevee, ignoring everything going on around him and appearing quite disheartened. What an odd expression, Red was used to him being so arrogant. He slowly recalled the creature back into its ball and then looked back up, laughing loudly to try and cover his disappointment. "I was just careless!" He commented, walking over to Red. "That warmed me up though, I think I'm ready for the League! But Red, you need more practice,"

_'Hey, what?' _He raised an eyebrow. Okay, no matter how much Green did change, he'd always have that superiority that was always just a little annoying. _'I just beat you!'_

"Yeah, well," He was thoughful for a moment. "I'm going to go find Indigo Plateau now though, so smell ya," He grinned at Red, and before he could even register what Green had said, he saw him start sprinting off in the direction of the League. Red didn't even have time to think about what he was doing, and found himself suddenly running after Green. He couldn't get a head start like that! It wasn't fair, he'd just beaten him!

Green had started running before him though, and was now about thirty metres ahead. Red wouldn't let that happen though, he sped up and soon caught up to the other boy despite having to dodge several trees and trainers. Though now his legs were aching and he could hardly breathe anymore. But it was worth it, becoming the Champion was what _he _wanted, more than Green ever could! They were running neck and neck now, and Red shot a glare at the other, letting him know that he was rather unimpressed with their competition.

"I'm...going...to...win," Green said, in between breaths. Red shook his head, trying to speed up so he could at least be a few steps ahead of his friend. But he couldn't, his legs wouldn't actually take him any faster. It didn't help that Green was taller than him either, not helpful at all. The building was in view now, and they both ran side by side, secretly trying to outdo the other. Despite it being almost a decade since their "falling out", they were still just as competitive as they had been when they were younger.

They were just about at the door now, and Red extended his arm to reach for the bar to push it open. Just as he grabbed ahold of it, he felt a shove on his side and found himself pushed over to the side of the path. He looked up to find the source and realised that Green had pushed him out the way. He growled to himself, the nerve of that guy! _I have just beaten him in a pokemon battle, and now he thinks he can just go and challenge the Elite Four like that! _He was really annoyed!

He slowly made his way back over to the door, but it was difficult considering he was almost doubled over because he was so out of breath. Eventually he managed to push through the door though, and find the administration desk and a queue that extended right to the doors. Well, fantastic. There were so many challengers, Red hadn't even realised that there were this many trainers in Kanto! Well, now he _knew _he had no chance. Oh, and Green was about ten places in front of him. How had the line even formed that quickly?


	46. Route 23

**Obligatory/boring filler chapter, ahoy!**

_...sorry nothing much happens. I didn't know what else to write._**  
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* * *

**Chapter 42: Victory**

"Giovanni was different when we dated, we were both still children. I never really intended on telling Red though, I didn't think it mattered, but now he blames me," His mother explained, biting her lip nervously. "Though I can never regret that I did, no matter how bad the man turned out to be. Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have Red,"

* * *

Red drummed his fingers against his leg impatiently. Why was this queue so long? Surely it couldn't take ten minutes just to process _one _person! And there were ten people in front of him! He'd be in here for another hour at least. He sighed dramatically, fighting the urge to just run up past everyone and jump the line (he knew it wouldn't be a good idea and he would end up having to join the _end _again). He knew that they were all here to give the Elite Four a shot, but really, did they want this as much as he did? Probably not. And did they stand a chance? Most of them wouldn't, the Champion didn't get defeated every day. But he really couldn't talk, he probably wouldn't be able to win either. He was just wanted to, _so much._

What made it worse though, was the fact that Green was at the counter at the moment. If Green were to become the Champion, Red didn't know what he'd do. It just wasn't fair! He'd won against Green not even twenty minutes ago, and now he got a head start? Someone up there definitely had it in for him. But what if Green were to become the Champion first? He'd known how much Red wanted this, he'd been going on about it for years now. But why did Green get a head start in everything in his life? Especially everything they were competing in. It wasn't fair, he was just so darn fortunate.

The queue shuffled forwards a little, and Red looked up to see the source of the movement. It was Green. He had just been allowed to continue on and was about to exit the building. Just before he opened the door though, he turned around and grinned at him.

"Have fun, Red," He called from across the room, and then, not waiting to see his reaction, strode out the door. It took all of his self control right now not to run out and chase him to wherever that door led. But he didn't, because he knew that all this would still just hinder his actual chances of getting to the Elite Four. He just stood there, balling his hands into fists and glaring out in front of him, willing the line to move faster.

* * *

"Trainer pass," An unfamiliar voice broke Red out of his daydream. What had been said? He blinked a few times, and frowned, he had been so zoned out he hadn't even realised the queue had moved and he was now the first in line. Realising this, he quickly pulled out his pokeballs and placed them into the little healing machine on the desk. It was rather conveniently placed. The lady behind the counter was looking at him impatiently, but for the life of him, he couldn't work out why. After a few moments, she sighed and spoke again. "May I _please _see your trainer pass?"

He nodded and took his wallet out his pocket. He fingered through the cards inside of it and pulled out a white, plastic one with his photo on it. He handed it over and she looked at it for a minute and then handed it back. "You appear to be a registered trainer, but we have to ask you some confirmation questions before you we can permit you through to the next area," Red felt a lump rise in his throat - so that's why the process took so long. But he wouldn't be able to answer, would he? He'd have to write down everything, but what if they didn't allow him through? This couldn't be happening, he _had _to get through there! They couldn't descriminate like that!

"Date of birth?" She continued, sounding even more bored than last time. Everyone he'd met that worked a desk job thus far didn't appear to like it very much, and he was starting to wonder if it was just the nature of the job, not the people. He swallowed nervously and pointed to his throat, shaking his head. She just raised an eyebrow and asked again: "When were you born?" He was starting to get very fed up with this lady, and he knew full well that she wasn't going to accept his current answer. So he reached for a pamphlet that was (conveniently) sitting on the desk and wrote on it.

_'Twelfth of September,'_

"We need vocal confirmation," She replied, glancing down at the paper. Red huffed, he figured it would go like this. Nothing was ever easy for him, always just Green.

_'Isn't my writing it down enough? I'm basically talking,' _His handwriting was getting rather messy now as he was quite annoyed. If they didn't let him in through those gates, he'd be forced to take desperate measures. And he would, there wouldn't be any way he _wasn't _challenging the Elite Four. Especially not because of some discriminative criteria. Why did it matter anyway? It's not like he would lie about his birthday or anything, and it was just as good as talking, probably even better. This way they could keep the proof.

"I don't make up the rules," She shrugged. "You either answer my questions properly, or you can't go through,"

_'I was born on the Twelfth of September in Pallet Town, which means I have a Kanto citizenship. My name is Red, I am a trainer and I can't talk. There, that's everything about me,' _He pushed the pamphlet over to her, she _had _to let him through. He'd been working to get here for so long! So far it wasn't off the the greatest start, but he wouldn't let that ruin it for him. This was the beginning of everything he wanted in life, and it would take a lot to bring it down. But he couldn't get angry right now, it wouldn't get him anywhere.

"Sorry," Why wasn't she letting him through? Sign language was accepted as one of the official forms of communication in the Kanto region (he'd done his research) and surely the League wasn't allowed to stop him like this. So, considering it was an actual language, he decided he'd just go.

_'I'm going through,' _He started to walk away from her, but as he went to reach for the door he felt someone grab his arm. He sighed, he knew he wouldn't have been able to get through properly, they seemed rather big on security. But how they managed to let a mafia (like) boss be one of the gym leaders was another thing. They should probably let up a bit on the stuff here and run more thorough checks on their employees. He looked up and found that it was one of the guards that had been standing by the door, and he was looking at him rather gruffly. Before he could even say anything, Red pointed to the lady behind the counter and nodded, hopefully indicating that he had been "allowed" to go through.

The man let go of his arm and ushered him through the door. From there, Red ran. He didn't want to wait around and see if the guard went to check with the lady, and he didn't want to be stopped again. He felt his heartbeat quicken as he made a break for the next door. He was in such a hurry that he didn't even notice his surroundings, and all he could see was the door and the man standing by it. Just before he got there though, he slowed down and pulled his trainer case out his bag.

"Oh! That's the Boulder badge! Go right ahead!" He pushed the door open nervously. What if he got caught now? But as soon as he stepped into the second room, a great sense of reassurance washed over him (mainly because he head the guard in the other room say "You don't have the Boulder badge, you cannot progress." He was off the hook as someone else had been allowed through!). He had to steady himself against the wall as the sudden realisation of being inside the League building hit him. His hands started to shake out of excitement and he wanted to jump up and down. This was everything he had worked for! He was finally here! Oh, how he'd dreamt about just setting foot inside here for so long.

He scooped Pikachu up and placed the little mouse on his shoulder before walking forward to the next guard. He was in some sort of a courtyard now, which was strange because he could swear that he had been inside the giant building a few moments ago. He couldn't quite work out the mechanics of the place, but he figured it didn't really matter. He was in the Pokemon League, that was the important part, right?

"You can pass here only if you have the Cascade badge," The guard said. They were of equal height, and Red found it quite strange that he could look him right in the eyes. He opened his trainer case (which he'd been holding the whole time) and flashed the badges at him. "Okay then, please go right ahead!"

Red stepped past him and walked further up the pathway. He really had no clue where he was actually supposed to go, but there only appeared to be one pathway. The rest of the place was blocked off by high walls that had statues of different pokemon on top of them. Each one had a little plaque underneath it, but he was too impatient to read them. He wanted to get to the Elite Four as quickly as possible! He wandered through the courtyard a little more and came across a third guard.

"You can pass here only if you have the Thunder badge," Red smiled and showed him his trainer case. Ah, the Thunder badge. For some reason, he had really distinct memories of getting this one. He'd just gotten off the S.S Anne and had that unfortunate battle with Green. He kind of wished they hadn't fought that time, the whole Raticate thing could have been avoided. Red still blamed himself for that, it _was _his fault after all, wasn't it? But he tried not to think about it too much. Then he'd tried to train Charmander but with little progress, so he changed to Bulbasaur instead. Oh yeah, it had evolved too. That was a good day.

Then he'd finally been able to stick it to Lieutenant Surge, which had been really satisfying. But it had been his first real experience with pokemon cruelty, and he didn't like that. You know, his encounter with Team Rocket in Mount Moon and Surge had probably been the basis of his detestment of Team Rocket. But all in all, his time in Vermilion City had been good. It had been one of his favourite places, along with Cerulean and Fuchsia.

"That is the Thunder badge!" The guard exclaimed. "Go right ahead," Red briefly wondered here if they all had to say the same thing. He kept walking and it seemed he was going in circles as everything looked that same. Pikachu was getting rather bored though, and as he was walking, it jumped off his shoulder and ran ahead. He couldn't help but smile at this, the little mouse didn't understand where they were and how big of a deal it was. He'd probably have to explain it later.

Eventually he came across another guard, but this one was standing in front of a _really _large pool. He pulled out his trainer case _again _to save time and showed the guard the badges. He nodded and motioned to the water. "You can go on ahead,"

For the first time, Red didn't quite know what to do. How was he supposed to cross the water? He could swim, but then he'd be soaked through, and so would everything he owned. And who knows when he'd be able to find a laundromat to dry his stuff in. Oh, and Pikachu wouldn't approve of swimming very much. Though the water did look rather inviting...but no. He wouldn't swim. How else was he supposed to get across then? He scratched the back of his head in confusion, trying to rack his brain for an idea.

Oh, yeah. Lapras. Right.

Red reached into his bag and pulled out Lapras's pokeball. He released the creature into the pool in front of him and watched it as it gaged its surroundings. Once it worked out that it was safe, it circled around itself a little in the water, delighted to be out before looking at Red. He lifted Pikachu onto its back and then stepped cautiously onto it himself, nervous that he was going to slip and fall headfirst into the water.

_'Swim up there,' _He pointed to where he saw another guard treading water. Slowly, they made their way north and eventually got to the fourth guard. Though he was still excited about being inside the League, he was getting a little fed up with all the guard. Did they really need one per badge? Sure, it was probably for security, but it was fairly obvious if a trainer didn't have all eight qualifying badges.

"Soul badge," The guard held out her hand, struggling to keep herself above water as she did so. Red chuckled a little, but he felt a bit bad. As much as he loved the water, he wouldn't want his job to consist purely of trying to keep his head about water. Once he'd shown it to her, she smiled. "I know who you are. You're that kid who saved Saffron from Team Rocket. I saw it on the news because I have family there. We certainly owe a lot to you," He shrugged his shoulders, not really sure how to answer. It was nice knowing that people within the League knew him though, maybe they'd put a good word in for him? "I certainly think you have a shot at the Elite Four, considering you brought down a whole organisation and Giovanni being a gym leader and all,"

_And my dad._

"But good luck, I'll probably be seeing you soon," And that's how most of it progressed, the remaining guards checking his badges and allowing him through the checkpoints to the next area. It was still all so surreal though, he never believed he'd actually get this far. The Pokemon League always just seemed out of reach, somewhere he'd dream about but never actually go. And here he was, just walking along as if it was a completely normal situation. He was _beyond _excited, he had thought about stepping foot inside this building for so many years now, and had worked even harder for it during the previous year, and now it was all paying off. He was so close, he wanted to scream. But he didn't, he stayed silent and just walked through the building, his hands shaking from excitement.

"You can only pass through here if you have the Earth badge," This was the only part Red hadn't been looking forward to. That stupid badge with his stupid emotional ties to it. It represented everything bad in his life, yet it was the thing that would allow him to progress further to the Champion. What he wanted more than _anything. _It seemed a bit hypocritical, didn't it?

He pulled out his trainer case for the final time and stared at the last green badge inside of it. He hadn't looked at it properly since, well, at all. He'd been too angry when he'd received it actually _want _to look at it, as it seemed tainted and taboo. As soon as he didn't need it anymore, he was going to chuck it out. Or burn it. Probably the latter, it would be more fun. Looking at it now though, that stupid anger was reignited and he didn't want to see the little pin anymore. It made him feel doubt, as if he didn't even deserve to be here. Everyone else wasn't the son of the bos of a major crime syndicate, were they?

He tried to push the worries out his mind by shoving the badge towards the guard, who's eyebrows raised in surprise. He could do this. He was Red. He deserved this as much as the next person. He was here because of his own effort, not someone else's. He knew what was right and wrong and had always had a sense of justice and correctness. He wasn't bad. He wasn't even half-bad. He was _good, _because that's how he'd always been. Happy.

"Okay then, please go right ahead,"


	47. Victory Road

Well, Mya, you've really outdone yourself this time, haven't you?

**JESUS. I SUCK AT WRITING.**

**PLEASE FORGIVE ME.**

_and thanks for helping me reach 300 reviews, you guys are amazing._

Also, are my chapters too short? I was reading some multi-chaptered fics the other day, and their chapters are about 8000 words long each. I can't read long blocks of text like that, my eyes hurt. What do you guys think?_  
_

* * *

**Chapter 43: Friends**

_'I think I have memory loss when it comes to Victory Road,' _Red laughed. _'Seriously, I remember walking in there, and then suddenly everything else is gone. It only reappears in my mind as me walking out of there, completely devastated,'_

* * *

Red stared up at the large cave entrance in front of him, a little nervous. He didn't like having to find his way through caves and mountains like this, as every experience he'd had with them had been rather unpleasant. Not to mention the darkness, the coldness, the eeriness and all the Zubats. Oh, and if it got too dark, he was screwed. Remember that time in the Rock Tunnel? Yeah, not a good idea to battle in the dark. But he'd have to go sooner or later, wouldn't he? He wasn't getting any closer to the Elite Four just standing here.

He took a deep breath and stepped inside the cave. Okay, this wasn't as bad as he had thought it would be, it wasn't that dark and he could still see most of his surroundings, which was rather helpful. So now he just had to work out how to get to the other side. He took note of the large boulder next to him as a landmark that could remind him where he was because he wasn't too keen on walking around in circles and getting stuck in here for the night. There wasn't usually anything remarkable about a boulder, but this one was perfectly rounded and was a lighter colour that the other rocks, so it didn't look quite natural. But who would put a big rock where there already were lots of them?

_'Come on, Pikachu,' _He tried to get the little creature's attention as it was staring up curiously at the roof. He tilted his head himself to check out what the big deal was and came across Zubats. Many, many Zubats. He shivered a little, now extremely glad that he wasn't a very loud person as they were all asleep. He didn't particularly feel like being bombarded by flocks of Zubats today, nor any day, really.

He stepped quietly past them and walked further into the cave a little. After a few paces, he found himself face to face with somewhat of a rocky ledge. Considering any other pathway was blocked off by boulders, he figured that this was the only way he could go. He sighed and placed his hands on the top of the ledge. So far this had not been easy at all and he was already feeling frustrated. But he tried to stop the rising annoyance by telling himself that if he couldn't do this, then how would he ever be able to fight the Elite Four? This was just the precursor to that challenge, wasn't it?

Red pulled himself up on top of the ledge and sat with his legs dangling off the side of it for a moment. He smiled and waved to Pikachu, who was watching him from the ground below. Hey, wait. The ground _below. _He smacked his forehead before shaking his head, he'd been so _stupid. _He'd completely forgotten that the little mouse couldn't get up here by itself. It was glaring at him and he felt a twinge of guilt, how could he really have not remembered that?

He jumped off the rock and then picked up Pikachu, and was surprisingly met with some resistance. The mouse sneered at him, obviously not very happy about being forgotten. He frowned at it, petting its head softly, apologetically. He then lifted it up and placed it on top of the ledge before pulling himself up too. It had already wandered a few paces in front of him by the time he was up again, and he trailed after it, feeling guilty. He hadn't meant to leave it behind, honestly!

The whole situation didn't really matter in a few minutes though, because the two of them ended up hitting an obviously man-made wall. It was too tall for him to jump and pull himself up on, and it was blocking off any further advancement. Well, fantastic. How was he supposed to get through now? He was basically blockaded in this tiny little area with no idea how to get to the League. He slumped his shoulders and turned back towards the ledge, jumping back down it, taking Pikachu with him.

As soon as they were down, the little creature jumped out his arms and ran over to the boulder. Great, it was still annoyed with him. He bit down his lip as it had started to quivver a little and leant against the strange-looking rock. Everything had been stupid today even though he was so close to everything he had ever dreamed about - stupid Green pushing him, that lady at the registration counter and now this, completely blockaded from the League with his best friend angry at him. It wasn't right! Everything was supposed to be good right now, not like this.

His eyes started to blur a little from the stupid tears that were starting to spill out. He wiped them away, angry at himself for crying over such little things. He had to be strong and find a way out of here (which wasn't the way he had come in), because if he broke down over a stupid thing like this, then he had no chance with the Elite Four. They were all powerful trainers who didn't let things like this bother them. He wanted to be like that, he _would _be like that.

Something was glinting in the distance and it had only caught his eye due to his eyes being all cloudy from crying. It was glowing red and it kind of looked like a switch. It was only a few metres away, so he walked forward and had a look. It was a button, but it needed pressure to be activated. He stepped on it, but he didn't weigh enough for it to work. So he tried jumping on it, and by this point he didn't care that he probably looked like an idiot. There was no one else around here anyway.

And then he had a genius idea. Maybe if he could roll that giant boulder over here, then that would weigh enough for the button to work. With a goofy grin on his face, he ran back towards it (and Pikachu was still sulking by it) and tried to push it with his hands. Of course it didn't move, he didn't even know why he'd thought it would. But at the moment he was rather desperate and tried pushing against it with his back this time. He felt it roll a little and peeked around to see that it had indeed moved about half a metre. But pushing like that was exhausting and he had to lean against it to catch his breath. At this rate he wouldn't get it there for a couple of hours.

Hey, Blastoise was rather big and strong, wasn't it? Why hadn't he thought of that before? He pulled its ball out his bag and released it in front of the boulder. It turned and looked at him, grunting in confusion at its surroundings.

_'Hey, buddy, I need you to push that boulder onto the switch over there,' _Blastoise nodded and stepped forward, rolling the rock along as if it weighed nothing at all. Red smiled proudly, half because of his pokemon, and the other half because he'd figured out a way to move it. He _knew _that that big boulder hadn't been natural.

There was a clicking noise, followed by a large whooshing one that startled all three of them. Red quickly recalled Blastoise, congratulating it on a good job before running back towards the ledge. The loud noise had come from there, and he was hoping with all his heart that somehow the big wall had come down. As he got to the ledge, Pikachu nudged his leg angrily, and he picked it up and placed it on top. Why was it still annoyed at him? He'd apologised, hadn't he?

* * *

"Hey, let's battle. I need a warm up before the Elite Four," Well, the loud noise had indeed been the wall falling down, and Red had worked out that it had been switch operated. At least now he knew what to do, even though it had caused a little heartache. But right now, he'd been stopped by a girl a little older than him, asking for a battle. She was obviously a trainer too, and he kind of felt like fighting too. He wanted to get in a little bit more training before the League.

_'Pikachu, I want you to battle,' _He crouched down, ruffling the fur on Pikachu's head. The mouse just huffed and looked away from him, pouting slightly. He sighed, it was still so annoyed at him, and he felt awful. He hadn't meant to forget it back there, he'd just been so wrapped up in the situation. But it was rather good at holding a grudge, he'd had no idea it was like this. _'Come on, please do this,' _He continued, a little desperately now. But it just shook its head and took a seat by his feet, crossing its arms. _'Fine,' _Well, he could play at that game too. He pulled Charizard's pokeball out his bag and released it out in front of him.

"Go, Persian!"

_'Use Flamethrower,' _As soon as he had commanded it, Pikachu jumped out in front of Charizard and used Thunder, leaving Red completely surprised. What had just happened? Pikachu was blatantly disregarding what he had had said and just doing its own thing? Fantastic, he'd gotten this far and now he wasn't even a decent trainer anymore. And this girl in front of him was just smirking, probably laughing to herself because he couldn't even control his pokemon.

_'Get back here now, Pikachu,' _He yelled, trying to get its attention. But it was either really bad at noticing things, or just ignoring him. He was going with the latter, and just because he had forgotten that one time. He didn't even feel sorry anymore, he was just annoyed. There was no reason for it to stay angry for this long, he'd apologised ages ago. Mind you, it was winning against Persian, which was kind of good, despite the terrible situation.

"It's because you use sign language," The girl called, poking her tongue out at him. "If you could speak properly, then you wouldn't have disobedient pokemon,"

That was the last straw for Red. He was fed up with Pikachu and everything else that had happened today, _including _this rude girl. Did she not realise it was entirely innapropriate to make fun of someone like that? I mean, wasn't that just common sense. He marched forward, recalled Charizard and reached to grab Pikachu. But well, the little mouse wouldn't have any of that. It jumped out the way just as Red went to pick it up amd ran over to the other side of the cave. He huffed and chased after it, narrowly missing it again. Seriously, what was wrong with it today?

Eventually he managed to grab ahold of it (after about five minutes of chasing it and embarrassing himself) and held onto it tightly in his arms as it was squirming and trying to wiggle itself free. He walked briskly out of the girl's sight as he was a little mortified. Not only did he have a disobedient pokemon, but he'd also run around like an idiot trying to catch it. It was whining and batting its tail against his stomach, trying to jump out of his arms, so he just squeezed it tighter.

He placed it down and immediately it scooted off further down the cave, not looking back at him. _'Fine, go!' _He said, making exaggerated gestures even though he knew full well it wasn't watching him. Good riddance anyway, it was just being stupid and causing him problems. Why would he want that anyway? It had been like this when he had first got it too, refusing to follow him and not wanting to go inside a pokeball. He should have realised earlier that it had an attitude and saved himself these issues.

He continued to walk forward, a large smile on his face. But with each step, it faltered a little as he tried to stop himself from feeling guilty about the whole thing. He was happy with this, yeah?

Right?

No. He wasn't, he'd been stupid and reckless. Pikachu had been his best friend, they had been through everything together. It had even supported him when he was chasing after Team Rocket and everything. The feeling when Pikachu had been fallen on top of by Snorlax and when he thought it was going to die in the Pokecentre recently kept creeping into his mind, and it was making him feel sick in the stomach. He had been so devastated, and now it was actually gone. He shouldn't have let that happen, it was his fault.

He wanted to cry again, Pikachu had left. What if he never saw it again?

It was that thought that changed his outlook. He _had _to find it otherwise he wouldn't challenge the League. There, he'd said it. But it was true, being a trainer wasn't right if he didn't have Pikachu. So, he took a deep breath, and for the first time, he consciously spoke.

"Pikachu!" He screamed it at the top of his lungs and surprised himself. He hadn't really heard his voice before, but it was rather monotone and breathy (and not very loud). He didn't really like it, but it was to be expected. He'd never used it properly before. And it hurt his throat to yell that loudly, _a lot. _His chest too, it felt like it was going to explode, and as such after saying it, he broke into a coughing fit and had to steady himself against the wall. His throat didn't like being used like that, apparently.

But none of that really mattered, because he had to find Pikachu. So he broke into a sprint and started running in the direction he had seen it go. He was much faster than it, so he hoped he'd be able to catch up pretty quickly. He made it to a larger part of the cave, and surveyed it frantically. There was nothing, only a few trainers and some various other pokemon scurrying along the ground. No yellow was in sight. Oh, God. It couldn't be lost, it just _couldn't._

The rest of Victory Road was a blur for Red, he didn't even take into account where he was most of the time. He jumped up a few ledges, made Blastoise push a few boulders onto switches and pretty much just ran around the cave blindly, confusing everyone inside it. If you were to ask him now if he remembered Victory Road, he'd probably say he didn't. Well, very little of it at least. He was so intent on finding Pikachu that he didn't even notice when he rushed past the large bird with red wings. Later on, he kind of wished he had stopped and looked at it though.

Eventually he came across the exit to the cave, and this made him want to break down into tears. That meant he'd searched everywhere and still not found his pokemon. It was probably hiding from him, making him feel even worse. He already felt super guilty, and now the prospect of never actually being able to see Pikachu again was actually hitting him. He slowed his pace down and made his way out the cave. Figuring that being out there would at least give him some time to think rationally.

He took a few steps outside, breathing in the fresh air. He hadn't realised how stuffy it had been inside the cave. Mind you, he hadn't noticed anything about it. He stood there for a moment, staring up at the building ahead of him. He was almost there, but it didn't feel right anymore. And then he felt a little nudge against his leg, and he sighed, Pikachu had always nudged him like that.


	48. Indigo Plateau

Helloooooo! Sorry for taking two weeks to upload a new chapter, I've been awfully busy. I had my final mock exam, and then a week of school, and today was my final day! I am beyond excited, school is so boring. But I have real exams starting next week, yay. I was also rather put off writing for about a week because of a rather critical reviewer I got. It made me consider some things though.

I must apologise for this story being incredibly cliché. Especially with the whole Giovanni thing. In hindsight, that was probably an atrocious thing to write. But hey, pokemon is full of clichés, right? Right? (Oh, and I don't do the accented e in pokemon because I'm lazy and write it too many times in this story. Sorry, I feel bad now!) Also, as for spelling mistakes like "beated", they are purely accidents. I know it is beaten, I just miss stuff like that when I'm re-reading it. I have someone proof reading it now, so hopefully there aren't as many :) Oh, and English is my first (and only :( ) language, just fyi.

And in case you were wondering, when I lost my Gameboy, I was rather upset, but most of my complaining was just joking. I didn't actually want to go kill myself or anything. I definitely didn't think my life sucked either, I was just fooling around.

**Hey! Guess what? **My friend, _The Creador _is going to translate this story into Spanish as a birthday present, eeeeeee! Isn't that so cool? He's the best, seriously. So yeah, I don't know if any of my readers speak Spanish, but it'll let other people read it more easily! :D

Errr, and sorry about the dodgy last chapter. I'm glad you all think my chapters are a good length though, that means a lot :) And Red, no more crying. It is time to man up, because apparently it's not right for him to shed a tear. Though he never really cried in front of anyone, haha. Ohhhh, and this story for put into a community! I'm so excited, I always wanted to be in one! This is so cool!

**Now, enjoy while I go study!**

* * *

**Chapter 44: Almost**

"I really had no idea Red was at the Pokemon League, he hadn't called to tell me or anything. The only way I found out was because Samuel came running up my driveway, flailing his arms around and yelling _'Red is challenging the Champion right now!' _We took off straight away, and I got there about halfway through the match. He didn't notice me until the end though," His mother remarked.

* * *

Noticing the nudge, Red looked down to find the source. And well, what a surprise - it was Pikachu. He broke into a huge grin when he noticed that it was his friend, and that, well, he hadn't lost it after all. He wanted to scream and shout that all hope wasn't lost and that he probably could still verse the Elite Four. But what was most important that his best friend was back! It wasn't gone forever like he'd thought! He stood there for a moment, tilting his head from side to side in excitement and relief, and then went to reach down and pick it up.

Halfway down though, he froze. It may have been back, but that didn't mean that they could just forget what had just happened. It had _blatantly _ignored him and ran off, all because he'd forgotten to lift it up onto that ledge. Something wasn't quite right - it had an attitude that hadn't really come out before and it could still be annoyed at him now. Did this mean that they weren't going to be able to cooperate in the League? Because he certainly couldn't have anything embarrassing like that happening, he had to prove his worth here. And well, if he couldn't control his Pikachu, then he certainly wasn't a good enough trainer to win, right?

So yes, that joy was rather short-lived.

Red straightened back up and then looked down at Pikachu. He didn't glare because he knew that wouldn't get him anywhere, but instead just stared. _'What the hell, Pikachu?' _It just looked back up at him, smiling sheepishly. _'So, you get totally mad at me and just come back expecting it all to be okay?' _Now he was getting worked up, which was _exactly _what he'd just tried to avoid. But Red was still just a teenager and as such had a lot to learn.

Pikachu shook its head, still smiling. Red stood there, watching it and trying to figure out what it meant. It was totally fine with him now and it had never displayed an attitude like that since he had received it, so it made sense for it to be - _'You were joking about the whole thing,' _He didn't move, but stared out into the distance. It had all been a joke, it hadn't been mad with him at all. It had made him _freak out _and be worried sick that he would never see it again, just because it thought it was funny. Yeah, that made him feel a lot better. _'How could you even do that, buddy? You have no idea how concerned I was!'_

He stomped forward, leaving the little creature behind him. Now it knew what it felt like! He got about five metres in front of it, and then whirled back around. He couldn't just leave it again, no matter what it had done. _'You were kind of annoyed about me forgetting you though, weren't you?' _And it nodded. He knew it, it couldn't have been all alright. _'And for pushing you too hard at the Viridian gym,' _It nodded again. _'The Pewter gym too, and for making you use Thunderbolt on Raticate. Team Rocket as well. I'm sorry, Pikachu. I'm going to be more careful next time, I promise,' _And he did mean it, he'd made so many mistakes and this...incident had really hammered in the fact that he needed to improve. He had to put his pokemons' health first, instead of rushing headfirst into any action.

What had been figured out? That Pikachu wasn't entirely joking, which was quite contradictory to everything that had just been established. He was still a little put out that it could do something like that though and the concern was to linger on his mind for a little while, particularly during the Elite Four.

_'Were you just trying to test me to see how good a trainer I was?' _He added jokingly, attempting to lighten up the whole situation. Pikachu nodded, repeating its name in confirmation. _'Well, I was just kidding, but whatever,' _He laughed silently and then walked forward and picked the mouse up to place on his shoulder. He tried to suppress the doubts about the whole thing by finding a distraction, and that was the view.

He stood for a moment, and stared out at it. He hadn't even realised he'd climbed such a hill, it hadn't felt like much. But now he could see most of Kanto, and as lame as he sounded, it was, well, beautiful and he was sort of proud to call it his home. All the lights were beginning to come on as it was starting to get dark, and if he blurred his eyes a little, they twinkled. He could see Pallet off in the distance. It was so small and just...there, with nothing but trees and water surrounding it. He thought of his mum, she was probably having dinner and had no idea where he was. This made him smile and he couldn't help but feel a _tiny _little bit homesick. Just a little.

His eyes then travelled up towards Vermilion, and the S.S Anne sprung to mind. He still had mixed feelings towards that - it had been fun, but way too fancy. And what about Gold? Where was he now? Probably fast asleep somewhere in Johto. He looked east, briefly spotting Lavender Town. _Oh, _Raticate. He swallowed nervously and diverted his gaze somewhere else, he didn't want to deal with that tonight. It was Saffron. As soon as he even thought that name his leg started stinging and his hand flew to it instinctively. Though the burn had healed long ago, there was still quite a nasty scar that occasionally caused him issues.

And then there was Celadon and Mia. He smiled fondly, remembering their first meeting. He'd been such an idiot, it was kind of embarrassing. He missed her though.

Red turned away from the view to face the League building. It was so majestic looking, all...ten million storeys of it. Seriously, considering they had an entirely different building for battles out the back, it seemed a little large. What were the other floors even used for? But he wasn't going to complain because this was the Pokemon League! The actual place! Each step he took towards it, he felt the excitement and anticipation bubbling up inside. This is what he'd spent so many nights dreaming about - just stepping as a challenger inside here!

He placed his feet carefully, worried that it might all just be a wonderful dream. Okay, almost there... He pushed the door open (and even that felt like a significant gesture) and took a step inside. It was awfully bright compared to outside and he had to squint and shield his eyes a little at first, but so far it was everything he had hoped for and more. It was set out like a hotel lobby - there was a registration counter, and then to the left a mart and a pokecentre. Then there were elevators and stairs, presumably for the other floors and a whole lot of people just milling about. It was rather fancy too, all red and gold. _Red _and _Gold._

But oh how he'd dreamt about this moment.

To try and stop himself from actually showing the joy of it all (which would involve jumping up and down and making an idiot out of himself), he walked calmly to the front desk. He kind of hoped that it would go smoother this time though. Actually, kind of was an understatement. He would give _anything _to not have a repeat of Indigo Plateau.

"Fill in this form if you want to register to compete against the Elite Four," The lady behind it slid a piece of paper over to him, smiling sweetly. So far, so good.

He pulled a pen out his bag and clicked it open, reading over the form as he did so. It said all the same things as the one earlier had and he briefly wondered why they needed all the information again. Surely they'd just be able to transmit it from one building to the other? It was the same company. It refused to let it bother him though, as it was the only thing in the way of him and the Elite Four.

He began to fill it in, cringing a little at his handwriting. He was so excited (and nervous) that his hands were kind of shaky, and that made his words very messy and childish. But you know what? He could be the Champion (though he still couldn't picture it happening) by tonight. He rushed through to the bottom of the page and it asked for a signature. Totally thrilled that he was almost there, he signed his name and handed the form back to her. She gave it the once over and nodded, making Red breathe a sigh of relief. It was all okay so far!

"These are the rules and guidelines," This time she held out a blue pamphlet. "Read over them thoroughly before you challenge them, you don't want to be caught off guard with anything. But the League is actually closed for tonight," He stared at her in disbelief, that couldn't be right, he couldn't physically wait any longer. Everything he'd worked for now was just being prolonged, fantastic. "That means there's no battling until tomorrow," She must have mistaken his silence and/or blank expression for him not understanding. His heart sunk though, those were the exact words he hadn't ever wanted to hear. "You'll be called up sometime during the day, and then you can battle them. I'd suggest you get some sleep now though, it'll be a big day. Our rooms on the floors above are seventy-five per night,"

He shook his head, a little disappointed. This sucked, and there was no way he could afford one of those rooms, he only had fifty dollars on him and he needed that to buy items. So he walked slowly away from the desk and fought the crowds through the rest of the foyer. There were lounges in the Pokecentre area, so he supposed he'd be sleeping there tonight, unless they had free rooms. That was doubtful though, considering they could make more money with the League's ones.

Red took a seat on one of them, figuring he should probably stake his claim now, a lot of these people looked like trainers. Now that he was actually sitting down, he realised how _tired _and sore his feet were. He'd been on them all day, so it was kind of nice to have a rest. He revelled in that relief for a few minutes before pulling the pamphlet out his pocket. He should probably know what was going to happen before he went charging in there - which was something (and he sniggered when he thought of this) that Green would do.

_1) The Elite Four and Champion must be challenged consecutively without taking the pokemon to the Pokemon Centre in between each battle._

_2) The challenger must be a registered trainer._

_3) The challenger must be 14 or over._

_4) The challenger must have obtained 8 official League badges._

_5) There must be no more than 6 pokemon in the challenger's party._

He skimmed over the rest of them, finding nothing was surprising. He'd known all this before he'd ever become a trainer, he had done his research. Many times. Probably too many, as the Pallet librarian was getting rather sick of him reserving the same books over and over. But they didn't matter now, because look where he was! In the Pokemon League! Only the most distinguished trainers got to step foot inside this building - hell, even the Champion had probably been here!

* * *

The lights had gone out long ago in the foyer and everyone had quickly dispersed to their rooms. Red had found that quite a few people were also camping out on the lounges (and that there were no Pokecentre rooms), so he didn't look too out of place. He had worried at first that he'd been the only one and might get thrown out for being "roomless", but no one seemed to care. Such was a trainers life, after all. But though it was rather dark, and he _was _kind of tired (because of being rudely awoken by Green that morning), he just couldn't fall asleep.

He'd tossed and turned for the last few hours and had even pulled his sleeping bag out and used it as a blanket. But nothing had worked, he was just too excited about what was to come tomorrow. This was everything he'd ever dreamt about! He'd been going over battles in his head, imagining type advantages and strategies he could use. He pictured himself progressing from one arena to the next, and then finally getting to the Champion. Though it always ended there, and this was rather unpleasant.

Sometime during the night, an unfortunate doubt had crossed Red's mind. It was only for a second, but he became fixated on it, and he couldn't picture himself getting to the Champion anymore. In fact, he couldn't see himself winning anything. _What if he wasn't good enough? _He was just one of the dozens of trainers that came here every day to challenge the Elite Four, so what made him better than all of them? He certainly wanted this more than _anything_, but so did they. It would have been the only thing driving them to win eight badges, just like him. People told him he was a good trainer, but was he good enough?

No, probably not. He was just Red, and there had never been anything remarkable about him.

His mother was so proud of what he'd done, he would just disappoint her and then everyone in Pallet Town would just laugh because he'd tried to do something with his life and had ultimately just wound up back there. And he'd be standing in Green's shadow, because Green could do everything, and Green was always the best. That's how it was, and that's probably how it was going to stay.

This had been plaguing his mind for the past hour or so, and he didn't know what to do anymore. He was allowed to be here as much as the next person, right? He had earnt those eight badges all by himself! And you know what was even more frustrating? Not being able to sleep and forget about all these worries while everyone else was. He hated looking around the room and seeing everyone fast asleep. Eventually he just stood up and began to pace around the room. Maybe moving would get his mind off things.

But it didn't. He just ended up signing to himself in nonsensical ramblings in an attempt to feel better. He knew he looked crazy, but he was past that point of caring now. _'You're going to be fine, stop acting like an idiot. You have as much right to be here as all these other trainers. You're good, you defeated Team Rocket all by yourself, why do you think you'll fail? Now, go to sleep. You're so tired and it'll just make things worse tomorrow because you won't be able to concentrate,' _

The final words surprised him and then suddenly sent the whole situation crashing down. He didn't even think about what he was doing or that he was in his pyjama pants and was shirtless and made a break for it, out the League building and into the night air, leaving Pikachu fast asleep on the lounge. He needed to breathe the cool air for a moment, just to clear his head.

He ran for about twenty metres, then came to a stop and slumped against a tree just in front of Victory Road. He pulled his knees up to his chest and inhaled deeply. Now that he was outside, he could think properly. He was at the Pokemon League - the place where all the best trainers in the region congregated to try and defeat the Champion. Tomorrow it would be his turn, and he would try to the best of his ability because he could. He would always doubt himself and worry that he couldn't do it, but he just had to push through and give it a shot. He'd never get anywhere if he didn't.

He smiled. He'd worked so hard to get here, and the least he could do was to go in there and give it a shot. And with that thought, Red drifted to sleep sitting by a tree outside. He found it rather comfortable as it had been the situation many times when he was out travelling, and if he imagined he was back out somewhere in Kanto, there was no pressure or stress. And that was pretty much why he fell asleep straight away.

* * *

And was also why he woke up the following morning quite confused as to where he actually was and why he was sitting out here in the first place.

Once he'd managed to collect his thoughts, he jumped up and sprinted back inside, worried. What if they had called his name already and he'd missed his shot? No, that couldn't happen, it shouldn't be that late! The doors made a rather loud crashing sound as he barged through them, attracting quite a bit of attention from _everyone _inside. That would have been embarrassing in itself, but was made worse by the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt and had on his old pyjama pants. He saw all their heads turn to look at him and someone whistled, causing him to blush.

But hey, nothing was stopping him from challenging the Elite Four today, so he continued to run. He made his way back to his lounge and found Pikachu sitting there, confused as to where its trainer had been all night. He flashed it a reassuring grin (he was in a hurry) and then ran towards the bathroom, he _had _to get changed no matter what. There was a free cubicle, and he locked himself inside it. He hopped up and down, attempting to change his pants in the quickest way possible. He shoved his legs inside of them, trying his hardest to ignore the massive red scar and pulled them up around his waist. He then put his shirt on and pulled his vest around himself. There, all done.

He emerged back out from the cubicle and stood at the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was a mess - sticking up everywhere from being asleep. It did not look like Champion material at all, which wasn't reassuring. He ran his hands through it a few times, attempting to calm it down a little, but to no avail, it was still as yucky as ever. Oh well, his hat would cover it. He poked his tongue out at his reflection and then splashed his face with water. It woke him up completely and he stared wide-eyed at the mirror. He could do this, he was ready.

_'Pikachu!' _He announced, walking out of the bathroom. Remarkably, the foyer was even busier than it had been when he had first barged into it this morning. The atmosphere was buzzing too, many of them were talking excitedly to one another or to their pokemon. It was exactly what a trainer's life should be, and Red couldn't help but smile at the scene. He overheard a conversation, and the girl was saying to the guy that she thought she was going to win the whole League. Red felt that doubt starting to rise up again, but he pushed it back down by striding over to Pikachu and occupying himself by reading an advertisement above the doors.

_'Come on, buddy,' _He said. _'We have to take you and the rest to the Pokecentre, today is a big day,' _Signing it helped quell his nerves, if he had the support of at least one person, then he felt okay. Didn't do anything with the butterfrees in his stomach though, and the shaky hands, but he figured those were going to stay right up until he got into the arena. He still was a little worried about what happened with Pikachu yesterday though - it had said it was joking, but could it be the start of something else? They were best friends, right?

He didn't need distractions today though, so he grabbed the pokeballs out his bag and pushed his way through the crowd...to join a long queue of other prospective Champions. Great. He began to panic again, what if they called his name when he was waiting for the Pokecentre? He'd have to go and compete with (mildly) unwell pokemon, which would totally jeopardise his chances of winning anything. _Deep breaths, it's going to be okay._

But why was it moving so slowly?

* * *

Okay, so panicking over that had been kind of stupid of Red. He'd managed to get his pokemon healed about an hour ago, and had stocked up on things at the mart. Eight Hyper Potions and six Revives. He was now officially broke, but at least he had what he needed. From there, he'd gone to the Pokecentre again and had them checked once more. It was a different nurse, so she wasn't confused as to why he was back again. It was probably silly, but you could never be too prepared, could you? Plus, it gave him something to do and to distract him from the nervousness.

_'Hey, lets go to the Pokecentre,' _He said, lifting Pikachu up onto his shoulder. It gave him a skeptical look, but he dismissed it and swung his bag over his shoulder. As he said, it didn't hurt to be prepared.

"You were here twenty minutes ago," The nurse said, raising an eyebrow as he attempted to give her his pokemon. "Your pokemon were fine then, and they're fine now," He sighed and walked back away slowly, she didn't understand just how _nervous _he was. He had to do th-

"Red!" He heard his name being called out from somewhere in the room. He looked around to try and locate it, and found that it was being yelled by a League official standing by the entrance to the arena. His eyes widened as he realised what it meant, it was his turn to challenge the Elite Four. His knees felt like they were going to buckle and he suddenly felt sick with nerves. This was what he had wanted _forever_, and now it was happening. It was actually here, _right now._

Shit.


	49. Lorelei

Once again, I really must apologise for such a delay! At least it wasn't quite two weeks this time. I had massive writer's block, and I also had to write a battle, which is what I'm totally bad at. Which sucks because Red has four more, haha.

Guess what? It's my birthday in 23 days (and my last exam in 4 :D). And then I'll technically be able to get my driver's license. But I won't, because I'm still on my Learners, ehehe. I suck at manual, don't judge me!

**Oh yeah, thanks for all the lovely reviews guys. I really appreciate them all, and that you've all stayed this long into the story *tears up***

Enough from me, let's get on with it!

* * *

**Chapter 45: Number One**

_'Oh, my God. I don't think I've felt any nerves quite as much as I did when I was called into the Elite Four. I actually felt like I was going to faint,' _Red laughed silently. _'It was coupled with excitement though, so it's not like I was totally scared or anything. Not at all,'_

* * *

Red's legs with jiggling up and down in a rather annoying manner, so he placed his hands on them to try and make it less obvious (despite being the only one in the room) just how nervous he was. But oh God, internally he was freaking out. His whole life basically depended on these coming battles...sort of. The passing time wasn't making it any easier either, in fact it was just making the nerves worse as he was able to replay scenarios over and over in his mind until he'd overthought all of them. He'd been brought to the waiting area about twenty minutes ago and from there the stress had just been mounting. Why couldn't they just call him in now?

Okay, so there wasn't much point in him just freaking out, he'd have to find a distraction. There were photos hung on the wall, they ought to be good enough, right? They were rather high up too, which was rather inconvenient, so he had to stand on his toes to inspect them properly. The first photo was in black and white and was of a young man, probably about five years older than him, smiling out at something. Underneath the frame, there was his name and the year - _Jean, 1908. _Wow, that had been quite some time ago.

He looked further down the wall, checking out all the other headshots. They were all the same, just people smiling with dates and names. None of them really jumped out at him, but there were a few names he thought he recognised - _Bridgette, Jonathan, Elizabeth. _On closer inspection to their photos, he realised he didn't in fact know them and he'd just heard of the names before. He'd gotten about halfway down the twenty or so when he came across a particular face. He stood there for a moment, staring intently at it. It looked _so _familiar, but his mind had decided to blank out and he couldn't figure out who it was. He huffed in frustration and then peered down at the name, hoping that it could maybe provide some clue. And well, it did.

_Samuel Oak - 1971_

That's who it was! The Professor! He mentally slapped himself on the forehead for not realising it sooner as it was so obvious. Looking at it again, he couldn't understand how he'd missed it in the first place. That brought forward another question though, why was his picture up here with all these others? He stepped back and the large lettering on the wall above the photos caught his eye - it read _Previous Champions. _Well, what? Professor Oak had been the Champion of Kanto at one point. He'd had no idea! Why had no one ever informed him of this?

That certainly explained a lot about the Professor though, like how he knew so much about pokemon and training them. Being a great trainer must have run in the family too, just look at Green. He stepped back and took a seat, and immediately he found the nerves creeping back into his mind with the thought of his rival.

Well, Red certainly wasn't going to let himself get to that point again, he had to stay positive. _This was exciting, he was about to fight the Elite Four! _He reached into his bag and one by one released his team out in front of him (excluding Snorlax as it was larger than the room). They were all so big now, and he couldn't help but feel a little proud. He'd raised most of these guys from when they weren't even a foot high, and now look! They were about to battle some of the toughest pokemon in the region.

Red wondered if this was how parents felt like whenever their child accomplished anything, even if it was a little silly. It's just...they'd all been through so much together. There was Charizard - or Charmander as it had been, one of the first he'd gotten. It had been so disobedient and tough to control, but he'd won it over eventually (even if it was by taking advice from that man he didn't like to name). It still had remnants of that attitude, but listened to him most of the time. One could now only hope that it stayed that way.

Then there had been Squirtle which was now Blastoise. It had been given to him by that stupid officer who had outright made fun of him. It was worth it though, Squirtle had been great, particularly in that mansion on Cinnabar Island. Bulbasaur had been the quiet one (because every team needed a member like that), never causing him any issues and taking to signing almost immediately. It was a really good battler though, and the intimidation it could cause as Venusaur was unreal. Mind you, he had only battled Green with it, so he didn't have _that _much experience.

Lapras and Snorlax had been with him for less time, but he still liked to think he valued them just as highly. Lapras had been faithful with giving him lifts across large bodies of water, not complaining once, and was quite vicious when it came to fighting. It had been a lot of fun when he'd battled Blaine and he liked to think they made quite a pair. And as for Snorlax, he'd battled with it once and didn't plan to again unless it was necessary. He knew it was stupid, but he was still just learning to control it. You know, now that he thought about it, he'd been quite lucky in terms of pokemon. He'd only had to capture one, and that was (regretfully) with the Master Ball. But other than that he'd just sort of been given them.

But then of course there was Pikachu. He'd be no where without the little mouse, and he'd actually promised himself that if anything happened to it, he'd stop battling. It was his best friend, though he was still kind of concerned about what had happened yesterday. Now was no time to be thinking about that though. He had to be confident, and that did _not _involve doubting yourself.

_'Now these are some of most important battles you are going to ever have, so I want you to give them everything,' _He said, attempting to instill positivity in himself. They nodded in response and he couldn't help but smile - he was so lucky to have such a great team.

"Red, you may come through now," He directed his attention upwards and found a League official waiting expectantly by the door. His eyes widened and all his nerves came tumbling back so fast that he had to grip onto the chair. So much for remaining calm. He recalled his team with shaky hands and cautiously stood up, almost worried he was going to pass out. This was exciting, but oh God was he freaking out.

_'Let's go, Pikachu,' _He smiled weakly and strode towards the door, pushing it open as he did so.

He took about five steps and then found himself standing on one side of a large arena. It wasn't just an average arena though, it was a large court completely surrounded by water except for two bridges, one of which he was standing on. It was kind of nice and the water calmed him down a little, even if it wasn't quite the ocean. He kind of felt like jumping into it and swimming for a while, but that would probably be a bit inappropriate considering the situation.

There was a clicking noise behind him and Red looked backwards to try and source it. The door he had come from had been closed and locked. The reality of actually being at the Pokemon League hit hard then, and he knew there was really no backing out now (not that he'd want to anyway). He inhaled deeply and stepped forward off the bridge and onto the arena. It was then that he noticed the figure standing on the other side. That was odd, how had he not seen them before? Whoever it was wasn't exactly hidden.

He tilted his head and peered at the person. It was a woman with red hair and glasses, and he could swear he'd seen her somewhere before. He stood there for a moment before it finally dawned on him (his mind was everywhere today). It was that girl he'd met on that island on his way to Cinnabar, Lorelei or something.

"I knew I'd run into you here eventually," She laughed, breaking the silence. "You did fight those other trainers on that island really well after all," Oh boy, did he feel like an idiot. If he'd know she was a member of the Elite Four he would have tried to show off a bit more and you know, impress her. He'd just figured she was some lady who worked in Kanto, nothing special, but she was one of the best trainers. Oh dear, he was so stupid. "I'm glad I get to battle you though, I really wanted to when we first met. But I suppose I should do the introduction thing that I am required to do before each battle," She shrugged her shoulders. "You know my name, but my specialty is ice pokemon,"

Ice, hey? Red had never battled anyone who used the ice type before, so it would be interesting. He hadn't had much experience with them, but he figured that it would probably be weak to fire because you know, ice melting and all. That didn't put his nerves to rest either though and he had to concentrate on his breathing otherwise he was worried he might hyperventilate. Out of excitement too, not just because of the crippling nervousness.

"Shall we battle, Red?" He nodded and swung his bag off his shoulder, placing it by his feet for easy access to his pokemon. He pulled out Charizard's pokeball and released it out in front of him. "Let's go, Dewgong!" She released the seal creature into the water next to the arena, well, that's what it was for. But more importantly, Dewgong was not _fully _ice. It was a water pokemon, which meant Charizard would be ineffective against it! Red frowned, he'd made his first mistake already and the battle hadn't even started yet. _That _was why _these _people were the Elite Four.

_'Charizard, fly over to where Dewgong is and use Air Slash,' _He commanded. If he hadn't been so wrapped up in battling, nerves and excitement, Red would have realised how significant this gesture was. It marked the first of his fights with the Elite Four, what he had been wanting since he was little and had been working towards for the past eight months. It was quite a big deal, but he didn't notice. He watched the dragon move over to the other creature and was about to draw its arm back.

"Duck under the water just as it goes to hit you," Lorelei shouted, and Red watched in horror as it obeyed. Charizard was left hovering there, looking into the water confused as to where its opponent had diasappeared tp. "Then use Ice Beam when you resurface,"

_'Dodge, dodge, dodge!' _He signed desperately, but Charizard (and him) wasn't fast enough. It was hit hard by Dewgong's attack and was sent hurtling through the air and almost off the other side of the arena. Red bit his lip in anticipation, finding it hard not being able to run over and help his pokemon up. This wasn't like any other battle he'd ever had, she was the real deal. No amount of gym badges could have prepared him for this either, the Elite Four were _tough _and had no qualms in showing that either.

It pushed itself back into standing, but Red could tell that it had taken quite a beating. It had been one attack and it was already injured, that wasn't good. Maybe he wasn't ready for this after all. But he wouldn't let himself think about that now, he had to concentrate otherwise he'd lose even worse than what he already was.

_'Fly upwards and move whenever it goes to hit you,' _He signed. _'Then when its recovering from using an attack, swoop down and use Air Slash again followed by Fire Blast,' _The battle ensued in that way for a few minutes after his command. Dewgong would use Ice Beam and Charizard would fly out the way just as it did, and then when it would go to use its attack, evaporating the water a little from the flames, Dewgong would duck under water. Little progress was made and Red was finding it rather frustrating. Eventually Charizard wasn't fast enough though, and it was hit by a Blizzard attack. And because it was flying, it fell straight into the water.

Red knew that it probably wouldn't be able to battle any further, it was pretty much extinguished, but he was clinging to that tiny little hope that it would be okay. _'Use your Blaze ability,' _He signed desperately, knowing full well that it was under water and probably couldn't see him. _'Try and evaporate the water!' _ He'd had the idea when he had noticed that Charizard's Fire Blast was dissolving it earlier. He could just see the top of its head just underneath the water and the end of its tail outside, and after what felt like forever, it broke the surface. Red peered at it intently and then a smile spread across his face. Its eyes were open! It hadn't fainted yet! _'I don't know if you saw before, Charizard, but I asked you to evaporate the water around you,'_

It nodded and the water around it began to steam up and dissolve quickly. It was happening remarkably fast and within seconds more than half the water was gone already. Though Charizard could now stand as it wasn't so deep, it still reached its lower belly. But it was continuing on, though it looked like a real struggle now. Red chewed his lip nervously, considering whether to just call it back now so it didn't tire too much, or to let it continue. He decided on the latter and watched as the rest of the water disappeared.

He stole a glance at Lorelei and noticed that she was smirking. He was challenging _her _after all, and this was just her job. Dewgong had pulled itself up onto the arena and was looking somewhat exhausted, but still seemed alright to battle. Though without water it was sufficiently harder for it, and Red felt like he had done something right for once. He turned back to Charizard, finding that now all the water was gone, as was its ability to battle. The dragon was collapsed on the floor, eyes closed.

Red sighed and recalled it, feeling a little guilty that he'd made it do so much when it was already weak. _'You did really well, buddy. I'm proud,'_ He hated seeing his pokemon when they had fainted, it unsettled him, especially since the whole Giovanni thing. But what worried him most at the moment was that he was already down one pokemon and Lorelei was the first of the Elite Four. They would almost certainly just get tougher from here and he was starting to feel way out of his depth.

He stopped for a moment, considering his options. If Dewgong was water, then Venusaur or Pikachu would be rather effective against it. And there was no water left, so they'd have even more of an advantage. He didn't want to use Pikachu yet though, _just _in case something went wrong, so it seemed he really only had Venusaur as a choice. That wasn't a bad thing though, he liked battling with Venusaur.

_'Go, buddy,' _He released it onto the field in front of him, and the creature noticed Dewgong in the water, it roared. _'Stand your ground and use Giga Drain when you have a clear shot,' _He took a deep breath, concentration was the key now. If he lost his focus, the outcome would probably not be in his favour.

"Nice choice," Lorelei shouted from across the arena, nodding approvingly at Venusaur. She then directed her attention towards Dewgong. "Attack with Take Down this time," Venusaur looked at him nervously after hearing her command, which was to be expected I suppose, he had told it not to move when it was being _attacked. _The poor thing probably thought it was going to get seriously injured.

_'Stay right there,' _He said, hoping with all his heart that this worked. He was pretty sure that it would, but he couldn't help but doubt himself. She was a professional! But if Venusaur fainted, he'd be completely devastated. He watched it charge towards Venusaur (as fast as it could on land anyhow), and clenched his fists together tightly, nervous about the outcome. It hit Venusaur, but...it wasn't sent flying across the arena like Charizard had. Instead it was just holding Dewgong off him while it was continually trying to headbutt it. Fantastic, it had done just what he'd hoped! Venusaur had a bit more balance than Charizard, being heavier and standing on four legs and all, _as well as _having an advantage, so the attack really didn't do that much damage. Red smiled, he'd actually made some progress! _'Now use Leech Seed instead, and then follow with Giga Drain,'_

He watched on as Venusaur used it against Dewgong, feeling rather proud. He hadn't thought he'd even be able to do this much, but here he was. And not only was Venusaur doing damage, it was also gaining health back - it was a rather handy attack. The best thing though, was that Venusaur had a direct shot as it had been holding Dewgong close to it. Maximum impact! Eventually Venusaur stopped, but it was too late for Dewgong now. It flopped around a few times, attempting to keep its eyes open, but to no avail. Lorelei frowned slightly and recalled it.

"That was very well done, Red," She called. "Now go, Slowbro," Lorelei grabbed one of the pokeballs that were sitting at her feet and released his second opponent. Dang, she had pokemon in her party that weren't dependent on water to battle properly. He should have figured, she was one of the best trainers in region. But Venusaur still had an advantage, so it's not like he lost out completely. "Attack with Psychic!"

_'Venusaur, use Giga Drain again,' _Slowbro lifted one of its arms slowly and pointed at Venusaur. It then raised it again, but brought the creature with him. Red hated Psychic moves, and this was one of the reasons why. His pokemon was rended pretty much useless as it hardly had any control over itself because of the Psychic! Slowbro was now throwing Venusaur all over the room, and Red knew he had to do something quickly, otherwise his loss would be imminent. But how was he supposed to break out of a Psychic attack?

_'I know you can't move much,' _He attempted. _'Just have a shot at using Sleep Powder, and try with all your might,' _Venusaur stared down at him helplessly while once again it was slammed into a wall. That couldn't be good, it was probably losing health every second. It seemed to squirm a little within the eerie purple glow created from Slowbro's stupid attack, but didn't end up being able to use what Red had called for. It just wasn't able to move enough.

Wait, move enough? If was fidgeting, so it could move a tiny bit. If it kept it up, then surely it'd be able to nudge its way out. It might take a while though, and a lot of energy, but it was worth a shot. And hey, at this point, Red didn't know what else to do. _'Try and push your weight against the attack,' _Red crossed his fingers hoping that Venusaur would be able to break out of it. He watched anxiously as Venusaur slowly nudged itself out of the attack. At first its movements were tiny, but bit by bit they were getting larger. Soon it was shaking itself around fully while Slowbro was still attempting to hurl it around the room.

There was a noise that sounded somewhat like breaking glass, and then Venusaur crashed down into the arena, flinching a little as it hit the ground. _'Get back up, buddy. You can do it,' _It cautiously stepped up, testing its legs. When it found that it was quite alright, it snarled at Slowbro. Remember Red mentioning that it was intimidating? Yeah, it really was. _'Sleep Poweder again, quickly now!'_

The attack went off without a hitch, and soon they found Slowbro curled up, fast asleep in front of Lorelei. Red smiled, finally! He was making some more progress! _'Now use Solar Beam while its asleep,' _Venusaur nodded and stepped closer towards the sleeping creature. A gold glow started to extend from the flower on its back, and then Slowbro was hit with the attack resulting.

Lorelei recalled it, smiling, which confused Red. "That was good. But we're not even halfway through yet,"

* * *

"Good battle," Lorelei extended her hand out and Red shook it. "You're really something," She grinned. "I haven't had a battle like that in ages, it was fun,"

Shit, man. Had he actually won? Surely not, this had to be a dream. He replayed the battle over in his mind - Venusaur had actually managed to take out three more of Lorelei's team, and then Pikachu had finished it off (and there had been no troubles with the mouse). Neither of them had fainted or anything either, so that was rather helpful. And then he'd beaten her! That meant he could now progress onto the second member of the Elite Four, he was a quarter of the way to the Champion!

All his nerves had disappeared now, but the excitement had doubled and he really hoped Lorelei hadn't noticed his hands _shaking _when he shook hers. But he was still having a hard time believing he had won, he was just Red from Pallet Town, and he always seriously failed to find anything outstanding about himself. It couldn't be true...

"An official will call you through when Bruno's ready to battle," She said, taking a seat on the ground. "Until then, I suggest you tend to Charizard unless you want to be one member short," Red nodded and sat down next to her, pulling out Charizard's pokeball as he did. He released the dragon out in front of him, cringing slightly when he saw that it was still passed out. He should probably use one of the Revives he had conveniently bought earlier, which was what they were for after all.

He fished through his bag and found the bottle, twisting the lid a little so it would work. He stood up and sprayed it on Charizard twice, crossing his fingers on his spare hand that it would work. He couldn't afford to be one down at the moment. It took a few (anxious) minutes, but eventually Charizard opened his eyes slightly and turned a little. Red smiled and took another seat next to the creature, petting its head to support

_'You're okay, Charizard,' _He signed, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. _'And you'll be even better in a few moments,'_

"Sign language is so interesting," Lorelei chuckled. "Especially the way you use it. It still astounds me how well you're able to battle just by using your hands," Red shrugged, it wasn't anything special to him. Something he'd noticed actually was that most gym leaders seemed to have commented on it. It wasn't _that _cool, was it? He'd never really considered it in that sort of way, it was just the way he talked, after all. But he supposed he'd not really given the thing much thought. In fact, he couldn't even remember learning it, he'd just sort of always known.

He returned Charizard back into the pokeball as it was looking much better already, and then shifted back a little, so he was sitting next to Lorelei again. She didn't say anything, so they sat there silently, albeit a little awkwardly. Red occupied the time by thinking of the coming battles, especially the Champion one. He was so close, yet there was an immense amount of work still standing in the way. But this is what he'd been working towards for a long time, he would have to give everything his best shot.

He already had, sort of. But that was only one part of the challenge, there were still four more battles.

"This is probably going to come straight out of left field," Lorelei broke the silence, turning to look at him. "But what do you think of the ice type?" He tilted his head in confusion, finding it a bit frustrating not being able to answer properly, but gave her a thumbs up anyway. He had nothing against ice pokemon, they seemed rather _cool. _"So you do like them then," She smiled. "I'm really glad, because a lot of people don't consider it a real type. In fact, it's the view the majority hold. They think it's just part of the water type, so I get a lot of criticisms,"

Red frowned, that was hardly fair. He'd never realised people thought that way, but then again, he'd never come into much contact with the ice type. No wonder why. It was rather discriminatory though, what was wrong with them? People always found the stupidest reasons to hate, he knew that for a fact.

"The League cops a lot too, but they're awfully good about it. I feel a bit bad about the crap they get, but ice pokemon deserve as much recognition as everyone else," She sighed. "I'm sure you understand what I mean, right?" He nodded and stared down at his hands. She knew about the adversity, even if it was in quite a different way. He had to admire her though, she'd stood up for something when everyone was saying it wasn't worth it, that took quite a lot of courage.

Before he had gotten his trainer license, everyone in Pallet Town had been telling him not to become a trainer. Everyone except his mother, but sometimes he thought she didn't really want him to do it either. Professor Oak had advised against it because he'd thought it would be too dangerous and that he'd get injured, Green had told him he'd never succeed when he had him as competition (but that was just who Green was), and all the other kids just said he'd never be able to do it. It was rather discouraging, he could attest to that, and at one point he'd almost given up on it.

But him sitting right here, 'conversing' with Lorelei provided clear evidence that he hadn't been completely turned off training. And that, you know, he could actually get somewhere. Even if he didn't make it to the Champion, beating one member of the Elite Four was still good, right? He had done much better than everyone else in Pallet, so they couldn't really say anything about him now. He smiled, pushing away the negative thoughts of when he was a kid, because he was feeling rather proud of what he had achieved.

"I'm glad you understand," Lorelei continued. "I haven't really been able to explain it to many people seriously, let alone trainers. There was this kid that came through earlier this morning and I didn't even try and bring it up with him because I could tell he'd just laugh," She chuckled bitterly at this. "He was just too arrogant about his abilities, and I really didn't like that loss,"

Red huffed and punched the ground, surprising Lorelei. She was most likely talking about Green. Stupid Green, he just _had _to do everything that little bit before him. He reckoned he probably did it _just _so he could lord it over him and brag about how well he was doing. He sincerely hoped that he had lost to one of the Elite Four members, and he knew it was selfish, but he'd like a chance to do something by himself for once. Something original at least.

"Are you okay?" She asked, peering at him, her brows furrowed in concern. He nodded and attempted a smile. He couldn't let himself get bogged down with thinking about all Green's achievements, this was _his _turn, and he had to be completely focused. "Oh, look," She directed her attention up towards the door where a woman dressed in the offical League uniform was standing. "They're going to call you through in a moment,"

Red stood up and smoothed his shirt down, feeling the nerves starting to rise up again. He could do this, it was just another battle. Pikachu jumped to its feet and nudged his leg, so he reached down and scooped it up to place on his shoulder.

_'Come on, buddy. Let's go,'_

"Good luck," Lorelei said, watching him walk towards the door. "You're going to need it,"


	50. Bruno

****Hey hey hey, sorry for the delay. I had two more exams, but guess what? I'VE FINISHED SCHOOL AND I LOVE EVERYTHING. Next week is graduation, and then the following week is my birthday...and then the following week I have to do my swim teacher training course! NO MORE SCHOOL IS FANTASTIC :D

The strangest thing happened the other day. My aunty is quite a famous poet where I live (though I don't know if she's any good), and in the English Literature exam they have to analyse a poem and write about it. And the poem this year was by my aunty and was about my cousin. I was weirded out completely :S

Oh yeah, the people who review, can you do me a favour? In your review, could you say whether you are a girl or a boy (if you don't want to say, that's okay)? I want to know who reads this more :D OH MY GOD, THIS STORY GOT PUT INTO THE TV TROPES RECOMMENDED FANFICTION. THIS IS BEYONG EXCITING. I LOVE EVERYTHING EVEN MORE NOW!

Anyway. Hmm, is it too late to make Mia into Leaf? Because I realllllly wish I hadn't created an OC now, and she totally doesn't fit with the story at all. Maybe Leaf could be her nickname? Anywhoser, that's just me lamenting. Enjoy this chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 46: Number Two**

Lorelei smiled, obviously thinking back to certain events. "I knew Red was better than all the other trainers the first time I met him on that island. He just had this different look about him, you know? I think most good trainers have it, but its something you don't often come across. I think what I was most happy about though was that he was going to go beat Bruno, because that man _needed _to be taken down a few pegs,"

* * *

Red smiled and waved at Lorelei once more before walking through the second door. There was no waiting room this time, but instead he stepped right into the arena. He was half expecting to have to mill around in a bare room with photos again, and was a little surprised when he found himself standing in a _very _large...place, for lack of a better word. There were boulders littered around the room following no pattern whatsoever and the ground was dirt. Like actually. So much so that Red kicked it and the end of his shoes became covered in orange dust. He briefly wondered whether they'd just forgotten to build a floor, or they'd had the dirt imported in. Either way seemed kind of silly. But whatever the reason, the arena was quite different to the one he'd just been in.

He looked around and ended up staring straight at a man sitting cross-legged across the other side of the room. He figured that this was his next opponent, but unfortunately he hadn't met this one. He didn't look like much of a talker though (but Red really had no right to complain about _that_), and it was always a little awkward when neither of them wanted to say anything. He'd struck up quite a rapport with Lorelei, but he should have figured all his battles wouldn't be that friendly.

The man didn't seem to have noticed him standing there yet, but instead seemed rather involved in tracing his finger along the ground. Red watched him for a moment, hoping that he'd look up and see that he was here, but after doing that for about five minutes, he gave up and stepped backwards to lean against the wall. If he couldn't get his attention, then he might as well just relax. He'd have to notice him sooner or later, wouldn't he? Whatever he was drawing on the ground must have been utterly enthralling though - he may have been silent, but his steps certainly weren't.

* * *

Bruno traced the final word into the dirt with his finger - _Hitmonlee. _He'd been mapping out his strategy for the next battle after his loss to that pretentious kid with brown hair and the massive smirk. He was rather sore about that, his opponent hadn't deserved to win, and it wasn't as if he hadn't put up a fair fight either. He'd knocked out three of the kid's pokemon, but he defeated all of his. It wasn't _that _bad of a loss, but for someone who prided himself on his extreme training methods, it was a harsh blow. So he'd spent the remainder of the day drawing up a plan because he figured going into a battle unprepared was what had caused his loss.

_Onix_

_Hitmonchan_

_Machamp_

_Onix_

_Hitmonlee_

He nodded in satisfaction at the order he was going to battle with his team, it was a good variation and hopefully his opponent would be taken completely by surprise. That's if he had an opponent, after all, Lorelei was pretty tough and usually he had a maximum of one challenger a day. Sometimes he didn't have any because not a lot of trainers made it past Lorelei. They'd done a good job putting her first, she really upped the reputation of the League as being the "best" in the region. It had been a smart move, because then everyone else got challenged less and only the truly skilled could make it past. Though he didn't want to admit it, but she was maybe just a _little _bit better than him.

Now that he was finished, he could actually write it down on somewhere more permanent than the ground. He looked up, fully intending to locate a pen and paper but instead came across a kid across the other side of the room, leaning against the wall awkwardly. Bruno felt a twinge of guilt run through him, how long had he been standing there and why hadn't he said anything to get his attention? Oh well, at least he could put his plan into action now.

He stood up and stretched his arms out before proceeding to walk to the middle of the room to greet the kid. Said kid promptly followed and they met halfway. They hovered for a moment, Bruno was waiting to see if he would reach to shake his hand, but when he didn't he was forced to himself. Not that he minded, he just always preferred it if someone else instigated whatever he was going to do.

"I'm Bruno of the Elite Four," He said, shaking hands with the kid. "And you are?" He didn't answer, but instead just stared up at him from under the brim of his hat with wide eyes. Bruno frowned a little at this, there was something unusual about him, but he couldn't work out what. He just seemed _too _quiet. "What's your name, kid?" He tried again, but it ended up sounding a lot harsher than what he meant. The boy didn't flinch though, but instead gestured to his throat and shook his head. Bruno realised it then, this guy was _Red. _All the gym leaders had been talking about him, saying how he'd beat them easily despite not being able to talk. He hadn't paid much attention to what they had been saying even though Blaine had remarked that the League hadn't ever experienced a phenomenon like this ever.

Apparently he'd been on the news for defeating Team Rocket in Celadon and Saffron, but Bruno didn't watch a lot of television so he hadn't seen it himself. Of course there was that other kid that had beaten him earlier, but he was just an average trainer so he hadn't heard anything about him. It was only Red they were all interested in.

"Let's battle then," He suggested, walking back over to where he had been sitting. "I specialise in the Fighting type, and I've both lived and trained with them," He continued, reaching down and grabbing a pokeball from behind one of the rocks. "Get ready, Onix!" He released his first Onix out in front of him and it roared loudly, making Red jump a little. Anyone would think that it was being aggressive, but being its trainer for so long Bruno understood that it was just happy to get out.

He looked towards Red and saw that he was bent over and fishing around for something in his bag which was now at his feet. His briefly wondered what he was doing, but then got an answer when Red pulled out one of his pokeballs and released a Blastoise. Damnit! He should have waited for Red to choose his pokemon first, now he had a huge advantage. Usually there wasn't an issue with that sort of thing because both trainers would talk at the same time, but Red could just slip through undetected and wait. This boy was good, he could tell that already, and he knew that Onix stood no chance.

No joke, it actually wasn't going to get anywhere. Water and Onix did not mix whatsoever, but he had to give it a shot.

"Use your Iron Tail attack, Onix!" He commanded, pointing towards its opponent. It moved closer towards Blastoise who was standing firmly in place and did not appear daunted at all with the difference in size. That bugged Bruno a little, usually he could count on its foe being intimidated aby the sheer size of his Onix to make the battle easier for him, but Red and Blastoise weren't fazed at all. That _was _the sign of a good trainer, but he didn't like to admit that this kid who was so much _smaller _than _him_ could possibly be so much better. Okay, so he was a sore loser, he'd admit that.

Onix reared up and just as it was about to throw itself down onto Blastoise Red moved his hands quickly and swiftly, catching Bruno's attention and distracting him from the battle at hand. He'd been told that the kid used sign language, but he'd never really believed it because it seemed pretty unfeasible. Now it was obvious that he did, but that brought about another question - _how? _Just how were his team able to see everything he 'signed' to them? It's not like there was sound or anything...

Speaking of sound, Bruno's attention was soon directed off Red's gestures when a loud crashing noise echoed around the arena. He looked out in front of him and saw Onix sprawled across the ground, attempting to stand back up. What the hell had just happened? He'd been so intent in watching Red's sign language that he hadn't even noticed his pokemon being attacked. The kid must have commanded him to use some water move! _Okay, Bruno, concentrate._

"Come on, get back up!" He yelled and watched Onix squirm around, trying to sit. Just as it managed to lift itself up a little, Blastoise hit it with another attack which was more than likely Hydro Cannon due to the force of the water. There was no way that it would survive that, the first one had been bad enough (even if he had no idea what had even been used then). And not to his surprise, when Blastoise stopped, Onix's eyes were closed. "Return," He mumbled, recalling Onix back into its ball. He threw it back behind the boulder and picked up another - Hitmonchan. Blastoise didn't have an advantage over this one, so hopefully he'd have more of a chance.

He noticed Red sign something, and it was here that he noticed how his pokemon saw what he said. They would turn slightly whenever an attack was finished or something new had happened, watching for orders. He'd trained them so specifically that they even knew when to move! Though his training methods probably weren't as _extreme _as his, but hey, his had to be, he was a fighting specialist! Okay, Bruno _was _impressed by Red, but he'd never tell.

What was most frustrating though was that he had no idea what Red was going to do next. They were on uneven ground here!

Said sign before seemed to once again be for Hydro Cannon, as Blastoise was sending large jets of water across the arena. Bruno watched for a moment, waiting for what was going to happen next and well, the water was falling short of Hitmonchan. What? Was it already tired out?

His questions were answered soon enough though, as Blastoise stomped down hard on the ground with its foot. Almost automatically the water is had been projecting out shot upwards and started swirling around, hitting the roof as it did so. So it was Whirlpool, not Hydro Cannon. It was now totally cloaked in the water and couldn't be seen at all, that was real helpful. It started to walk forward, the typhoon moving with it, getting closer and closer to Hitmonchan. For a moment, Bruno was frozen and his mind would not allow him to figure out a way to combat something so big. He stared up at the attack and shook his head, trying to collect his thoughts.

Slowly, a smirk began to form on his face. He'd just thought of the perfect thing to do. "Use Thunder punch now!" He shouted, a little concerned that even though it was a brilliant plan, he'd left it too late. Hitmonchan drew its fist back, sparks beginning to fly around it and ran forward, forcing it into the Whirlpool. The water began to crackle and Bruno could swear he saw Red's eyes widen in surprise. He bet he'd had no idea his pokemon knew that.

He held his breath in suspense, waiting to see the outcome. This could either be awfully good, or Red's pokemon could be trained so well that this didn't affect them at all. He sincerely hoped for the former. A few seconds that felt like a few hours later, the cloak of water suddenly enveloped in sparks and then dropped and hit the floor with a close to deafening splash, soaking Bruno's feet and the ankles of Red's pants (and washing away his plan in the sand). This was followed by another crash as Blastoise fell down to the ground, _almost _unconscious.

Red was gesturing something frantically, but Bruno just shook his head. "I think it's done, kid," He felt a little odd addressing Red and even though he knew full well that he could hear him, he felt like he couldn't and had the urge to speak slowly and loudly. He had to mentally stop himself and it was quite frustrating. Not only that, but this was the first time he'd met someone less talkative than him, usually he was the quiet one.

Red nodded and then turned to ruffle the fur on his Pikachu's head, whom then decided to jump off from his shoulder and into the area in front of them. Said area was still ankle-deep with water, and Bruno suddenly had a thought of what Red had in mind. Though wouldn't it be dangerous to both of them as well? Surely he wouldn't be willing to risk their health and safety to win a battle? That didn't demonstrate a mature trainer, which is what the League liked to strive for. All his worried were soon dismissed though, as the kid clambered up onto one of the boulders scattered around the field. He followed, finding one that was opposite and taking a seat on it.

"Hitmonchan, charge forward and use your Mach Punch attack," He called. "And if Pikachu evades, follow with a Sky Uppercut,"

* * *

Red had found this battle surprisingly easy so far, if he was perfectly honest. He was much more familiar with the fighting type than he had been with ice, and he didn't know Bruno, so there was no shock like there was been with Lorelei. He'd lost Blastoise (but he had a Revive for that later so he wasn't stressing), but with that, had flooded the arena which later would prove to be _mighty _helpful. The bottoms of his pants were soaking though, and that was rather uncomfortable. Oh well, some things had to be sacrificed for others.

Right now though, he had to concentrate on Hitmonchan's coming attack. Pikachu was watching him in concern, not wanting to be punched, and with fair reason too. He frowned, remembering that unfortunate incident in Pewter City all those months ago. He'd been so stupid, but hadn't learnt his lesson and perhaps found himself even more inclined to give the finger. _'Pikachu, start running circles around the arena, alright? Try and leap from rock to rock as well, really confuse your opponent,' _It commenced with the attack, sloshing through the water until it came across the closest boulder, Hitmonchan chasing it the whole time. From an outsiders perspective, it would _not _have looked like a battle.

The full speed chase continued on for a few seconds until Hitmonchan, being about three times the size of Pikachu and all, managed to catch up to the little mouse and execute its attacks perfectly. Red gasped quietly, watching Pikachu fly across the arena. It landed with a splash and a thud, due to the water not being very deep, but once the surprise had worn off, he could tell that it was quite alright. Pikachu _was_ a fairly nimble thing after all.

Though _his _plan hadn't gone off all that perfectly, he had still worn out its opponent, so now would probably be a good time to put into action what he'd originally thought of. _'Quickly, buddy, use Thunder on the water!' _It began to spark, and soon the whole pool was flashing and crackling.

"Fire Punch to the ground now!" Bruno roared, obviously nervous as he was running on borrowed time. The two of them were totally fine from the electricity that had been sparking around the room, and as was Hitmonchan. It had been subjected to the attack for a second or two, but had managed to evaporate the water and had sustained minimal damage. Red frowned, it seemed that evaporating the water was a very common technique, he'd never realised that. But now he had to think of something else to do.

Hitmonchan appeared a little distracted from the previous attack, hopping from leg to leg. Maybe he could use that to his advantage, but how?

"Stop screwing around," Its trainer yelled, balling his fists up. "Run to that Pikachu and use your Fire Punch and Thunder Punch at the same time, one for each fist," Wow, could it do that? Combining attacks at the same time had been something Red had never tried, nor thought to try. Though maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing to have a shot at. Not now though, he couldn't risk anything at the moment. Hitmonchan began to charge towards his Pikachu, who tensed up and looked towards Red, worried about being hit.

_'Stay right there, buddy,' _He commented. _'Endure the attack, and when it contacts you, grab a hold of its glove and use Thunder,' _It nodded, the angst one its face changing into one of determination. That was awfully reassuring, because if Pikachu felt comfortable with it, it had to work, right?

Hitmonchan struck the mouse with a harsh fist, and for a moment Red was convinced it was going to go soaring across the arena and be knocked out. But at the very last moment, it clutched onto the fist that had just struck it and began to spark. Hitmonchan stopped in its tracks and began to shake - it was working! The attack began to subside, and it dropped to the floor, unable to even move the tiniest fraction.

"I knew you were going to try something, but I couldn't anticipate what," Bruno remarked, recalling his pokemon. "So I wasn't fast enough in getting Hitmonchan up onto a rock," He revealed another pokeball from somewhere behind his rock and released a Machamp.

_'Come back, Pikachu,' _The little mouse stared at him for a moment, considering whether to disobey Red and keep battling, or to listen to him. Obviously it didn't want to stop, but he was thinking that the best way to defeat Machamp would be with more force, ergo Snorlax. What he was hoping though, was that Pikachu wouldn't be disobedient again like it had yesterday, that was the last thing he needed right now. He was a good trainer, there was no reason for his team to was to disobey him! It couldn't happen, not now!

But luckily for him, it didn't and he'd found that he'd completely overreacted. Pikachu turned itself around and bounded back up to Red, nudging his legs for attention. _'You did well,' _He chuckled silently. _'And you will get to battle later, I promise,' _So with that, he pulled out Snorlax's pokeball and released the giant creature out in front of him. Fortunately it wasn't asleep, but tilted its head in confusion as to where it was. He had no idea why he was using this creature, but he blamed the fact that he wanted something larger than its opponent. The only issue was the training, he'd used it...once?

"Lift up one of the rocks near you and throw it at your opponent," Bruno shouted, pointing out into the arena. "Once its dazed, jump up on its stomach and hit it right in the face with a Cross Chop attack," Wow, he really didn't do things lightly, did he? The Cross Chop attack was one thing, but Snorlax could be seriously injured from the rock, those things were _not _light. But how was he supposed to avoid it? Snorlax wasn't exactly the fastest creature...

Of course his mind decided to blank out at this moment, and he watched in horror as Machamp easily picked up one of the boulders and hurled it right towards Snorlax. _'Step out the freaking way, jeez!' _His signs were over the top and melodramatic and when he'd finished speaking, he found his arms completely a moment after he'd given the command though, he wondered whether Snorlax had been acting on its own accord until he noticed that he had in fact commanded something.

As he had mentioned before, Snorlax wasn't very quick at all and this certainly played to its apparent disadvantage when it had a huge rock hurtling towards it. It attempted to rotate itself around to avoid the rock and Red watched on nervously as it moved slowly. Of course it wasn't fast enough though, and the object struck it right in the stomach. Red chewed his lip, anxious and disappointed - _its totally done for_, ran through his mind.

But then something quite remarkable happened. Snorlax pushed its stomach out and the rock bounced right off it and ended up hitting Machamp. It wasn't with as much force as it had been thrown, but it still knocked it over and slowed the battle down for a moment or two. Looking back, Red was glad that the rock had ended up hitting Snorlax, because if it _had _moved it would have landed on him and that would _not _have been very pleasant. He probably would have ended up in hospital, actually.

_'Now Snorlax, use Body Slam against it!' _The one thing that Red knew that Snorlax could do was fall down and totally crush its opponent, as this had been demonstrated to him in two unfortunate other incidents. Though the second one had been in his favour, it wasn't a nice situation. It looked at him, blinking slowly and then instead of falling forwards onto Machamp, it fell backwards and curled up, fast asleep. Fan-fucking-tastic. _'This is no time to be sleeping!' _He stomped his foot on the ground, but he knew it was useless, there was no way it could see him with its eyes closed. He was so close to returning the damn thing, he should have know better than to use it in the first place.

Bruno was smirking at him from across the arena. "Submission attack, Machamp!" The creature walked up to Snorlax, wedged its arms underneath it and easily lifted it up into the air. Meanwhile Snorlax was none the wiser and continued to snore peacefully, unaware that it was possibly going to lose consciousness any second. What was most curious though, was that with each step Machamp took, the snoring got louder. It was in the middle of raising its arms to throw the large creature when it began to shake. At first it was just a little, but then it got larger and at this point, the snores were almost deafening.

Not only that, but a strange yellow sort of glow was emanating from underneath Snorlax and travelling down Machamp's arms. Red's eyes widened, that was its Snore attack! So it going to sleep hadn't been stupid and useless after all! The shaking spread and within seconds, Machamp was shuddering all over. It wobbled slightly and then its legs buckled, sending Snorlax crashing down onto it, still fast smiled at this, maybe there wasn't really any reason to be frightened of this giant creature, it didn't seem to want to hurt anyone on purpose.

"Return, Machamp," Bruno huffed, somehow recalling his pokemon from underneath Snorlax's massive body. "You got lucky with that, kid," He grumbled and Red chuckled silently, Bruno didn't really like losing at all, did he?

* * *

"Having lost, I have no right to say anything," Bruno mumbled, extended his hand for Red to shake. He'd won again? No way, that couldn't be right. The Elite Four were the best in the region, he was just another trainer, yet he was technically halfway through them. Maybe he had just been really lucky after all. "Go face your next challenge," And with that, he took a seat back on the boulder he'd been sitting on and stared out at something invisible in the distance. Well, this was certainly awkward, he couldn't go through to the next arena yet and Bruno was no where _near _as hospitable as Lorelei had been. Oh well, he might as well use that Revive on Blastoise.


	51. Agatha

Sorry for the delay again, these chapters are _really _difficult to write.

Oh, guess what? I graduated on Thursday! I also won the top student award for my childcare class :D And it's my birthday tomorrow! I'll finally be 17!

One more thing, in the last chapter notes, I wrote BEYONG instead of BEYOND, oops. Sorry about that.

Actually, oneeee more. In a review a while ago I had someone ask why I write Pokecentre instead of Pokemon Centre, and the answer is I don't know. For some reason I've always just called it the Pokecentre even though in the show and the games and everything it's not that. So when I started writing this, I accidentally did Pokecentre. I suppose I'm just lazy?

* * *

**Chapter 47: Number Three**

"I wasn't quite sure who I wanted to win in this battle," Bruno remarked, crossing his arms over his chest. "I wanted Red to lose because he'd beaten _me, _but I also wanted Agatha to lose because, well, that woman is a cow,"

* * *

This was the first battle Red was actually psyched about, and the feeling was kind of confusing him. He'd been so nervous before the other two, so why not all of a sudden? He probably shouldn't argue with it though, the better he felt the...better. He'd already won two fights, and he just had to win two more and then he could fight the best trainer in the region! This was everything he'd wanted for such a long time now, and he was _so _close. Yet the two hardest battles (three if you count the Champion) still stood in the way. To be fair and comparitive, he was still pretty far from it, but he was positive this time.

He strode into the next arena (to be confident you must _look _confident, he reasoned) but was immediately surprised and disappointed that the room was quite dark. Medieval torch things lined the walls, providing some sort of light (which Red was so grateful for. He could not attempt a battle in the dark at this point), but the whole room felt not unlike the Pokemon Tower. He shuddered slightly, trying to repress those few incidents he'd had there and almost succeeding. This was not a favourable arena for him, but he didn't let that spoil his mood. He would just have to make do with what he was given.

"Welcome, young man," A hoarse voice echoed from across the other side of the room, making him jump in surprise. He could not see who it came from and was forced to take a few steps forward and squint before he could identify it as an older woman. She crossed the arena herself and met him in the middle, smiling when she got there. "I'm Agatha and I'll be your opponent. I specialise in the ghost type," She continued. "What might your name be?"

Red looked around quickly for something the same colour as his namesake, but came up empty. So he just stared up at her, not sure really what else to do. Bruno's introduction had fortunately not been too painful as he hadn't been very interested in Red, but this one was starting to head in that direction.

"Speak when you're spoken to, child!" She suddenly commanded. He flinched at her sudden harshness and took a step backwards. "It's rude not to acknowledge someone," She paused for a moment, obviously waiting for him to respond somehow. But when he didn't... "And you're still not! Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"

Red could feel the frustration starting to build up inside of him, this woman was easily one of the most ignorant people he had met on his journey so far. And to criticise his mother like that! She had done the best she could, and he probably had been a difficult child anyway. He told himself to take it easy and to think rationally about it, she was from a different generation, things had probably been different back then. It wouldn't do him any good to get worked up now anyway, he'd end up making stupid mistakes in the battle. Plus, in twenty minutes or so the whole thing would be over and he wouldn't have to talk to her ever again.

"You are incredibly arrogant, even more so that the boy I battled earlier," She sighed, shaking her head. _Stay calm, Red _- not only was Agatha bugging him now, she'd just mentioned Green!"I don't see why you won't just tell me your name!" They stood there for a few moments, eyeing each other off awkwardly. This wasn't going anywhere, something had to happen and she was too stubborn to give in, and as for his reason, well, it was self-explanatory.

And then he remembered that he had a pen in his bag and he could probably write down his name on his arm. He always seemed to forget about that as an option, and he didn't know why as it was rather helpful. He pulled it out and in big bold letters wrote _Red_ and then pointed to it with an exaggerated gesture.

"Thank you," Agatha replied, obviously exasperated. "I don't understand why it was such a big deal, did you lose your voice or something?"

He shook his head, sighing internally. Why couldn't they just get on with it already? He clicked the pen open and underneath his name wrote _I don't speak._

"Whyever not?" She frowned. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, child! How do you expect to battle if you can't even command your team?" Okay, so she was definitely one of the rudest people he had come across and there was only so much he could tolerate whilst keeping her age in mind (the Professor wasn't like this though, and they looked around the same age). Yet for some reason, she was making him even more excited about the coming battle, he wanted to show her just what he could do.

A smile slowly spread across his face and he reached into his bag for a pokeball. _'Go, Charizard,'_

"Gengar," She said calmly, and then slowly behind her a purple creature faded in. This surprised Red, had it been there the whole time? If so, that was more than a tad eerie. He had had some experiences with the ghost type, but that had only consisted of some Haunter in the Pokemon Tower and the Marowak. But that wasn't a ghost type, it _was _a ghost. So yeah, he really didn't have much of an idea what to do.

_'Use your Flamethrow attack quickly, before it has a chance to disappear again,' _He commanded, already starting to feel the tension of the battle. It was one thing to fight ice or fighting types, but a totally different thing to try and hit something that wasn't always there.

"Substitute," Agatha called, pointing out in front of her. "And when you've created it, fade away," Charizard had already launched its attack and the flames were heading full speed towards its opponent, but at the very last moment before it was hit, it jumped upwards out of...itself? It left behind a slightly transparent Gengar and disappeared just above the doll. Said doll was hit straight on and exploded into several little pieces which dissolved before they hit the ground. "Now, use Confuse Ray,"

Red couldn't quite tell where it was coming from, but a high pitched tone was ringing out from somewhere. It wasn't loud or high enough to bug Red, but Charizard was holding its hands over its ears and wailing loudly. After a few seconds, the noise subsided but the damage had been done and Charizard was swaying from side to side, obviously dizzy and unsure or where it was.

_'Flamethrower again,' _He said in a weak attempt to do _something, _but he knew that it was useless, he didn't even know where Gengar was! It opened its mouth in an effort to execute the attack, but for some reason instead it hit itself rather roughly with its own tail. So rough in fact, that it fell over and whined in pain. Darn, it had hurt itself in confusion!

"Shadow Punch, Gengar," Agatha smirked, giving the once over to Charizard who was still on the ground. He waited for a few seconds, expecting to see something when Charizard was thrown across the room and skidded to a halt right near his feet. Oh, that was just great, he couldn't even _see _the attacks! "And again now, and follow it up with Night Shade," But Red was going to stay firm and _make _Charizard take the attacks in hope that it would snap the creature out of the confusion.

So once again, it was hit in much the same way, except with Night Shade because that made the lights flicker on and off. _'Stand up, Charizard,' _He commanded and watched as the dragon (who was still a little dizzy) pushed itself up onto its legs, shaking slightly as it did so. But that last bit didn't matter because it was up and it was almost not confused anymore! Finally he could try and get somewhere. Except well, he still couldn't see Gengar. _'Now, the only things you can use without seeing Gengar are your fire attacks, so use Fire Blast with as much effort as possible so you can cover a large area,'_

* * *

Red was becoming increasingly worried, they had not managed to land a single hit on Gengar because they couldn't see the stupid creature! Charizard, on the other hand, was becoming increasingly injured and its tail flame was starting to dim a little. That wasn't a good sign, because couldn't it die if it burnt out completely? Well, he wasn't going to let that happen. He was going to show restraint and be a _good _trainer.

_'Come here, buddy,' _He called and the giant creature slowly wandered towards him. His intention was to recall it and have a shot with someone else on his team, but as it came towards him, he noticed something. It's tail flame wasn't actually fading away, in fact, it looked just as bright as the day he'd gotten it. He mulled this thought over for a moment, trying to figure it out. It had looked so dim thirty seconds ago, so why was it alright over here?

He could not work it out for the life of him, but if Charizard was fine, then he wasn't going to return it. So he pointed for it to head back out into the arena and wait for instructions when it got to the middle. It did so, but when it got there its flame had started to dim again. What? But it was fine a few moments ago! Oh, and now it was starting to brighten up again. He had no idea what was going on!

And then he struck on an idea.

_'Charizard, kind of waggle your tail from side to side,' _It was a funny sight, and to anyone who wasn't him, it would probably look like Charizard was using Tail Whip. But he had a plan and it involved waiting until the exact moment when the flame started to fade... _'Stop and use Flamethrower to the left of you immediately!' _He was a little frantic now, worrying that his plan might not work fast enough. But nonetheless, Charizard did as it was told and a second or two later, there was a large groaning sound and Gengar toppled into view.

Oh, my God, so he was actually getting somewhere this time. He'd worked out how he could hit the ghosts even if they were invisible. This was a major breakthrough for Red and he couldn't help but feel a little proud of himself. So, the flame dimmed when it got near Gengar because of the drop in temperature. That wouldn't usually affect a flame, but Charizard and its family were different. Not his specifically, but in general.

_'Now follow up with your Air Slash attack,' _It flew up and swiped at Gengar, causing the creature to topple over and then slowly disappear. Great, cool. Now he'd have to find where it was again.

"You worked out where it was and then defeated my Gengar," Agatha said, pulling out a pokeball and apparently recalling Gengar (he couldn't see where it was, so he assumed that's what she was doing). But oh, he'd won? "That's something to be commended for. Now, go, Golbat," She released the bat creature into the air in front of her, and it screeched at Charizard who then blew smoke at it in response. Red could tell that it wanted to battle Golbat just because the creature was taunting it, but he also knew that it needed a rest.

_'Come on, Charizard,' _He said before returning it into its ball. There was no doubt he was going to use it later on in the battle, so it should sleep for now. _'Pikachu, I want you to battle now,' _He lifted the little mouse off his shoulder and it bounded into the middle of the room, obviously excited that it finally got to do something. He'd fought Golbats and Zubats before, so he knew that they were particularly weak to electric attacks. Mind you, this one was going to be a lot tougher than wild ones, but that still applied, right?

"Golbat, hit first with Poison Fang," Agatha yelled. "And then use Supersonic immediately afterwards,"

Red bit his lip, that was a terrible combination and Pikachu would pretty much be rendered helpless if it succeeded. He had to do something. _'Use Agility and if Golbat manages to catch you, quickly attack with Iron Tail,' _It nodded and darted across the room and running circles around to avoid Golbat who was flying after it in a mad chase. It was fast, but Pikachu was faster.

It ensued for not even half a minute before Pikachu unfortunately took a wrong turn and Golbat had it cornered up against a wall. It swooped down to use its attack, but at the same time it made contact with Pikachu, the mouse jumped up and hit it roughly with its tail. Golbat fell to the ground, surprised and a little injured, but it soon got back up and was in the air in no time at all. It seemed both moves had been effective though, as Red could see two little bite marks on Pikachu's forehead. They were kind of purple too, that couldn't be good.

_'Pikachu, use your tail to jump up off the ground and use Thunder against Golbat,' _Now it was his turn to attack first and he couldn't help but grin. The creature hit its tail to the ground, but just as it was getting ready to jump it started to shake and fell down, whining a little. What? Why didn't it use the move?

"Golbat did use _Poison _Fang," Agatha smirked. Wonderful, Pikachu was poisoned now and he didn't have any Antidotes. God, he felt so stupid about it, he should have looked ahead and bought everything he _might _have needed. Pikachu would faint eventually, and then he'd have to use a Revive. _But _it hadn't yet, so there was still some hope in electrocuting the bat.

_'Repeat the same move, buddy,' _He said, more than a little concerned now. This time it went off without a hitch, and Golbat dropped out of the air completely frazzled. Unfortunately Pikachu also shook again, and for a moment after the attack, neither of them could do anything. Pikachu was the first up, but it was started to exhaust itself at this point and was having a hard time standing up. But Red _had _to defeat the Golbat and Pikachu was tough, it could hold on for a while longer. _'One more Thunder will do it,' _He commanded, and Pikachu, despite not being able to move quickly appeared determined to win too.

Golbat was just starting to get up when it was hit again, and the force of the attack was so strong that it went flying across the room and landed a few metres behind Agatha. The move had been too strong for Pikachu too, and as soon as it had finished, it fainted right along with Golbat. Red sighed, he felt awful whenever Pikachu got that hurt, but he had the rest of the battle to fight, so he would revive it afterwards.

He ran forwards and picked up the sleeping creature, and then lay it just behind him. It would hate waking up in a pokeball, and he did not want any bad moods right now.

"Haunter,"

_'Blastoise,'_

* * *

"I'm sorry for underestimating you, child," Agatha remarked, calling back the second unconscious and invisible Gengar. He was feeling that familiar sense of disbelief again, how was he winning everything? "I was very skeptical at first and thought you were just some cocky kid, but you're not. And even though I hate losing, particularly to someone so young, you deserved it," Red smiled in response, it was nice to have that sort of recognition (and also because, you know, he was one battle away from the Champion). "And until now, I never really considered sign language a valid way of communicating, but you've proved this old woman wrong,"

His smile twisted into a frown, he wasn't sure how to feel about that. She had complimented him, but it was sort of an insult at the same time. He didn't quite understand this lady, was she actually kind or was she just trying to get back at him for winning? He couldn't tell, and it was making things kind of awkward that he had to wait here until he was ushered into the next room. Though he had to fix up his team, so at least he had something to do.

"I probably shouldn't be asking," She continued. "But where exactly are you from, Red? Because the way you battle reminds me an awful lot of a gentleman I know," He scrambled around for his pen in his pocket and then scrawed _Pallet _on his arm, underneath all the other writing. She chuckled lightly when she read this. "That makes sense. You'd know Samuel Oak, of course?"

Red nodded, looking at her in confusion. Was she implying that he battled like the Professor did? Well, that was kind of nice because he _had _been the Champion and everything. He didn't wonder why she knew Oak though, because he was a rather respected figure throughout the region, always appearing on television and on the radio. In fact, he even hosted his own radio show, and it was one of the most listened to in Kanto _and _Johto.

"We used to date," Wow, what? So she probably knew him better than most people...but how could the Professor have been with someone like her? She wasn't exactly the nicest person, and he was. Well, that was a pretty broad statement, but he was certainly a lot nicer than she was. He couldn't believe it. "That was about twenty five years ago now," She laughed again. "He used to be awfully tough and handsome until he decided to focus on research rather than battling. That was when we broke up, I couldn't stand it,"

Red had never met someone who didn't like the work Oak had done and the advancements he had made towards better understanding pokemon, and he didn't quite understand _how _she was so opposed to it. What she said annoyed him though, and for some reason he felt a little defensive of the Professor. He had _no _idea that Agatha was complaining about him right now, though he was sure that she never made it a secret when talking to him.

"It was after that that he met that floozy he went on to marry," Okay, that was the final straw for Red. It was one thing to be rude to someone, but to speak ill of the _dead _was something else completely. Did she have no ettiquette whatsoever? "I wonder how she's doing anyway," Oh, Agatha didn't know that she had passed away. He probably should have known that because Oak didn't exactly make it public, in fact, during the that unfortunate time he hosted his radio show sounding exactly the same as he did when he wasn't grieving. Actually, now that he thought about it, it had only been the Oaks, Red and his mother, and a few others from Pallet at the funeral.

"I never liked her," She said, and Red had to concentrate on taking deep breaths and telling himself that she didn't know (but being rude was still mean enough) to stop himself getting annoyed. "But Samuel and I still battle sometimes. He was the Champion but hasn't been for twenty five years, and I've always just been the third member of the Elite Four, so we usually balance out," That would be a pretty intense battle, he had to admit. Maybe next time he'd ask the Professor if he could watch.

What she had been saying was really beginning to irk Red though, so he unzipped his bag and pulled out a Revive as a distraction. He slid down the wall into sitting and faced Pikachu, spraying the medicine onto the little creature. It would be better soon, and then his conscience would feel better about it. Blastoise and Charizard were fine, so besides Pikachu, he didn't have anything to worry about.


	52. Lance

****Christmas, Christmas time is near. _(I like the Chipmunks, don't judge me!)_

Champion time is too.

Enjoy :D

* * *

**Chapter 48: Number Four**

"Blizzard, Blizzard, Blizzard!" Lance stomped around the room. "I don't ever want to see another Blizzard attack in my life, seriously!"

* * *

Lance sighed, lamenting the loss he'd experienced earlier in the day. He couldn't believe the kid had beaten him, he was the leader of the Elite Four! He hadn't been challenged, let alone beaten in at least six months, and now suddenly when he _did _battle he got totally and utterly crushed. Seriously, what the hell was that about? No one had ever beaten him like that before, and he just couldn't comprehend the situation. Was he raising his team wrong? Surely not, rising to the top of the Elite Four was proof enough of the validity of his training methods, right? He just _couldn't_ understand how it had happened.

And Clair was going to tease him mercilessly for this, no question.

She was all the way in Johto though, so the news wouldn't reach her for a few days (at least he hoped), so he had some time to get his story straight. She'd see that the kid who had beaten him was the new Champion though, so she couldn't exactly criticise him for losing to _that _title. But still, she'd find something to tease him about if it wasn't that. Speaking of Johto though, he was kind of missing Blackthorn. He hadn't been back for a few months now, so it was about time he visited. Usually he went once a month, but the League had been pretty hectic for some time now and he hadn't been able to leave. Being a member of the Elite Four meant that he was required to live in or around Indigo Plateau, which was the only bad thing about the job. He'd much prefer to live back in Blackthorn, but the position was too good to give up. Plus, his wife was originally from Viridian, so he didn't want to make her move too far.

He pulled a loose thread on his cape and frowned when the material around it gathered. Now he'd have to go to the department store in Celadon sometime, they were the only place that stocked the ones he liked to wear. But really, that was the least of his concerns right now. He was just trying to figure out where he had gone wrong and how he could prevent another loss as crippling as that one had been. The arrogant little kid had managed to wipe out all of his team and he'd only managed to off two of his! Seriously, how could someone even be that strong?

It's not that he had even been _that _talented at battling, Lance thought. Because he wasn't, he was better than average, but not the best he had seen. Not by a long shot. He was _really_ determined though, to the point that Lance would worry if he even thought about the safety of his pokemon. They were okay after their battle though, so he hadn't pushed them that badly apparently. But now he just had to work on strengthening his team, and it would probably be quite a while before another trainer approached him, so he figured he had some time.

There was a quiet thud from across the room, and he only noticed it because he was extremely bored. He looked up from the riveting view of his cape and found a boy standing awkwardly against the wall with a Pikachu perched on his shoulder. What the shit? How did he have two challengers in one day? That was pretty much unheard of for the latter members of the Elite Four (not Lorelei though, she got challengers almost everyday)! He knew who this guy was though, and it wasn't entirely surprising that he had made it this far. He just wasn't expecting him yet.

His name was Red and he was a trainer from Pallet Town. He'd heard from the gym leaders that the kid was mute and he used sign language and gestures to battle. He'd first been told by Brock, but had kind of dismissed it as a fluke, because really, how could you battle properly without vocal commands? But then reports had started pouring in from every leader about their losses to the boy, and then one evening, Lance had turned on his television and seen a story about a kid who had just singlehandedly beaten the whole of Team Rocket. He hadn't realised it was Red until they interviewed the guy he had lost to earlier, who had been swearing his head off and complaining that "fucking Red thinks he's so fucking great, but he's not, he's a fucking idiot that wants to make my life so fucking shitty,".

Yeah, Lance didn't even know why they'd included that interview. They were probably scared of Green, he had looked pretty angry. That had tainted his opinion of Red for a while, even though all the leaders had confessed that he was _very _gracious when accepting the badges. He had thought that Red was a jerk right up until his battle with Green, when he had realised that _Green_ was the difficult one (his arrogance had astounded Lance, how could someone think they were _that _good?). And now he could really see that Red was the opposite of what he had first thought. He appeared really nervous and shy, not meeting Lance's gaze as he stood up and walked towards him.

He didn't blame the child though, years of not being able to respond to people would probably make anyone wary. Perhaps he thought that if he tried to look as inconspicuous as possible, then people wouldn't talk to him and then he wouldn't have to go through the resulting awkwardness. It didn't really work in situations like this though, when there was only _one _other person in the room.

"Ah, I heard about you, Red," He smiled, hoping to at least put him at ease a little. "I'm Lance the dragon trainer, and I lead the Elite Four," Red wasn't going to win this battle, Lance had decided. He'd just had a loss, there was _no _way he was going to let it happen again. So he was going to fight as hard and with as much force as possible, that way Red would stand no chance against him. He _was _a dragon specialist, after all.

But Red just stared back at him, blinking slowly and then nodding his head. He was a little disconcerting, Lance wasn't going to lie. How could someone be so silent? If he didn't know better, he would say that he couldn't even hear the kid breathe. Besides the quietness though, it was his eyes that unsettled him. He was just watching him so intently and now didn't look at all nervous. A moment ago he'd been avoiding eye contact, but appeared to have no issue with it now. This kid was so odd.

"So, get ready to lose, Red," He smirked, pulling out his Dragonair's pokeball. "Your League challenge ends with me," He released Dragonair into the area in front of him, and the creature mewed happily, glad to be out and battling again. The dragon type was resistant against many of the more common types, so because of this, Lance thought of them as virtually indestructible. It made him snicker a little when he thought of the hard time Red was going to have defeating them all.

But instead of appearing annoyed, which was the reaction Lance had been hoping for, Red just reached into his bag and retrieved one of his own pokeballs. He opened it up and released a...Lapras. Lance cursed under his breath, he just _had _to own a creature that was half the type of one of the _two _types Dragonair was weak to. Mind you, it was only half ice and the other half water, so maybe it would balance out. It all depended on the attacks though, didn't it?

"Strike first with Thunderbolt, Dragonair!" He shouted, starting the battle off. Fortunately for him, Lapras was a fair bit slower on land rather than water, so it wasn't able to dodge (the super effective attack. Lance always made sure he was prepared for situations like these) and was hit straight away on its left fin. It recoiled slightly, but instead of looking hurt, the creature narrowed its eyes and glared at Dragonair. So it was one of those determined ones with an attitue then? He'd just have to defeat it and bring it down a few pegs. "And now charge up your Hyper Beam whilst darting around the room, that way it can't hit you,"

The command however, was cut short when a vicious wind seemed to whip up. Lance felt his coat blowing around, and it was so strong that Dragonair was struggling to keep itself steady in the air. If it couldn't even do that, then what chance did it have charging an attack. The wind, unfortunately, was soon joined by tiny little bits of hail and snow which were not only pelting the dragon, but we also hitting the top of Lance's head. He could hardly see anything and had to squint his eyes in order to stop stuff flying into them. It was a Blizzard attack, Lance knew that immediately, and though it was really frustrating, he felt a little vindicated that Red was being hit as badly by the attack as he was.

Not Lapras of course, it was fine. But Red had his arm up, covering his eyes. Maybe if he couldn't use one arm, he couldn't use sign language properly. Lance would like that. A lot.

"Use your Hyper Beam now!" He yelled, struggling to ever hear himself over the howling wind. Dragonair reared itself up as well as it could against the crazy weather and attempted to aim at Lapras. It unleashed the attack but only managed to hit the side of its opponent's shell. He rolled his eyes at the failed attempt. And now it had to recharge, wonderful. He'd figured the battle would be over when he used the attack, but he didn't foresee these particular events which left his pokemon totally vulnerable and open.

Red gestured something, and then almost immediately Dragonair was slammed against the wall. The poor creature couldn't survive the impact and slid down to the floor, unconscious. Lance sneered, returning it. How was he losing _again? _He was the leader of the Elite Four, there was no way that this kid could be stronger than him and his famed dragons! He only looked around fifteen or something, it just wasn't right (and to have lost to another too)! But you know what was the most unfair? That he didn't know what Red was saying! He wasn't able to adjust his attacks to what Red was commanding, because he didn't talk! It was beyond frustrating.

It was after this battle that Lance decided to learn to sign, because he figured that he'd probably be working with Red soon.

At first Lance had told himself that he was going to battle as hard as he possibly could and had even convinced himself that Red didn't stand a chance, but now he knew that that wasn't exactly true. It was that stupid Lapras, all his pokemon were weak to ice besides Gyarados which was then no good against electric (which was really helpful as the kid had that Pikachu sitting on his shoulder). So basically, unless he managed to take those two out, he was stuffed.

"It's your turn, Gyarados," He said, watching as the dragon-like creature was released in front of him. "Now, use Dragon Rage," He gritted his teeth together, hoping with all his might that Gyarados would strike quickly enough so Red didn't have time to recall Lapras.

But of course, being that he couldn't understand sign language, he didn't see him tell his Lapras it was time to finish and command his Pikachu out instead. He returned said Lapras right when his Gyarados started to attack, and Pikachu jumped right opposite to wear the attack hit. Curse Red for knowing type advantages and how to use size to his advantage! Why couldn't he ever face trainers that didn't know what they were doing? The answer to that was simple though, it was because he was the leader of the Elite Four. Maybe he should just ask to drop down a position or something...

No! He _would _never give up his spot to Agatha. Never!

"Twister attack," The creature started to swing its tail around, and with each time it did, the room began to get windier _again _and after thirty seconds or so, a fairly large twister was travelling across the room, straight towards Pikachu. The poor little mouse looked quite frightened (and with fair reason too, it was so _tiny_), but Red gestured something and it jumped out the pathway of the extreme weather and began to charge towards Gyarados, sparking itself up as it did so.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

* * *

"Dragonite, bat away the ice the best you can and then use Thunder on Blastoise," The dragon was struggling, that was plain to see and there was no way he could deny it. It's just...those Blizzard attacks were just so powerful, what had Red done for that? Had he trained on some freezing mountain peak with them or something? It certainly seemed that way. But his Dragonite was strong too, _he _had trained it in the Dragon Den! That was where dragons came from!

Luckily though, his Dragonite's Thunder did hit quite a large area, and it sent Blastoise toppling over to the other side of the arena. It was shaking a little, and he watched in anticipation, hoping with all his heart that it would faint. It would be nice to be able to defeat at least _one _of Red's pokemon.

But no, the creature pushed itself back up into standing and despite having a bruise or two on its arm, it was fine. Red flicked his hands in one smooth action, and the Blizzard attack suddenly started up again, pounding Dragonite and himself with even more ferocity. He still didn't understand why him and Red needed to be pelted too, but he couldn't exactly ask the kid, could he? It appeared as if this attack was even stronger than the first one, which was odd considering Blastoise had been hurt.

"Dragonite, stay up there and avoid the..." His command was cut short when he saw Dragonite fall to ground and land with a large thud that made both of them jump. He sighed and recalled the creature, a little shocked about the situation. Nothing like this had _ever _happened to him before, and it didn't feel very nice.

Fuck. To say that Lance had lost would be a complete understatement. He'd been completely pummeled to the ground, as all his pokemon had fainted and Red's were completely fine. How had that even happened? Well, he'd managed to tire out his Lapras and Blastoise, but the Pikachu didn't even have a scratch or anything on it. That creature really was something though - he'd never seen such a strong little pokemon before, not even Green's Eevee had been like that.

"I still can't believe my dragons lost to you, Red," He said, having to consciously stop his voice from shaking with anger. Red was a very, _very _talented trainer, and he liked that, but he just _didn't _like the fact that he had been beaten so _badly_. Was he not good enough? _Why _wasn't he? Though he was feeling crappy about himself, there was a little part of him that was feeling even worse about Green. Though he had been arrogant, his reign would soon be over, thus making him the League's shortest Champion. That wasn't a position to be proud of. "You're now the League Champion!" He continued, and felt a pang of guilt as Red's face broke into a smile. He almost didn't want to say the next thing, but he was kind of obliged to. "Well, that's what I would be saying if I had been in that position. But I'm not, so you have one more challenger ahead,"

Okay, he would admit that that was a little cruel. But nonetheless, the whole situation was rather embarrassing for Lance. Mortifying even, so he didn't care that much. Two losses in one day would not look good on his record, especially since they were both to kids ten years younger than him. He'd never met anyone that age who had managed to get this far into the League before, it usually took years for trainers to even reach Lorelei's level! Clearly Red and Green were just freaks of nature.

Goddamnit, he needed to stop making excuses for himself.

* * *

_Deep breaths, Red._

He had to keep reminding himself to breathe otherwise Red worried that he was going to faint from the excitement. It had happened before (not to him, but he'd heard of it), so his concerns were perfectly justified. But oh, my God, he was about to challenge the Champion! Do you know how long he'd been waiting for this? Everything he'd ever wanted in life was about to happen, and the feeling was both enthralling and petrifying at the same time.

He had no idea who the Champion even was, but that wouldn't be any different from the last fights as he'd just gone in blind with those ones. Maybe whoever it was would have a type specialty and he'd have the advantage like this battle, or maybe he'd have a disadvantage. That latter thought made the nerves flare up again, and he wrapped an arm around his stomach in an attempt to stop himself from feeling sick. He couldn't believe the situation though - there had to be some catch.

Because seriously, he wasjust _Red. _He figured he'd just gotten really lucky with this battle - lucky that every one of Lance's pokemon had a disadvantage against half his team. All he'd had to say were a few simple commands, no strategies or anything, and they'd all fainted. It made him feel awfully good about himself, Lance _was _the _leader _of the Elite Four after all.

He knew he felt this way after every battle, but he was just so unbelievably happy! He'd never thought he could make it this far, no matter how much he wanted to, but here he was. It was an honour just to be standing here, let alone winning. He took another deep breath and reached out to steady himself on the wall.

"Are you alright?" Lance raised an eyebrow. "Because you look a little unwell," Red just smiled slightly and nodded his head. He'd be fine, just as soon as the whole thing sunk in (it had to be a dream, didn't it?) and he wrapped his head around the fact that he had won. He'd won! He'd won! _He'd _won! But you know, no matter how many times he did win, the words still sounded foreign to him.


	53. Champion

Because I probably won't upload anything before Christmas, I'd just like to wish y'all happy holidays :D Really, I hope you have a great day, and a good new year too. While most of you are rugged up in front of a fire because it's winter, I'll be swimming in the river and having a barbeque outside because it's going to be like, 40 degrees. To be honest, I totally envy all you people living in the northern hemisphere.

Oh yeah, a few chapters ago I had a review asking if I was just using attacks from generation one. Well, to be honest, I started out intending it that way, but then I realised that there weren't really that many attacks back then, so I just used moves based on the characters' teams from all gens. I've bent the storyline enough already, I'm sure it doesn't matter that much, right?

I also wrote an interlude chapter for before this, and I had it uploaded and everything. My beta said he liked it, but I got a review saying it was shit, plus I didn't feel so sure about it either, so I took it down.

Stupid Mia, I wish I'd never made an OC.

* * *

**Chapter 49: The Champion, part 1**

_'Everyone says that_ _I'm the strongest trainer in the world,' _Red shook his head slightly. _'But that __can't be true_, _I just battled because I loved it,'_

* * *

Being stuck in this waiting room was _not _helping Red's nerves whatsoever, and he soon found himself sitting on top of his hands to try and stop them shaking so much (out of sight, out of mind apparently). If he had been taken through to wherever the Champion was straight after his battle with Lance, then he figured he would have felt okay because he wouldn't have had time to think about it, but all this sitting around by himself was just making it so much worse. It was giving him time to analyse every battle he'd had, and what the coming one would be like - and just how important it was. He'd said it before, and he would say it again, this was _everything _he'd been working towards since he'd been given Pikachu.

So yeah, it was kind of a big deal. It wasn't everyday that he faced the greatest trainer in all of Kanto and Johto, was it? Though he highly doubted it, he could possibly be the Champion by the end of the day. But he didn't want to think about that, otherwise he'd get too ecstatic and wouldn't be able to concentrate. He tried to distract himself by looking at all the photos lining the walls, but they weren't as interesting as the ones had been at the beginning of the League. Instead of previous Champions, they just had photos of the Indigo Plateau spanning different decades. To be honest, it hadn't changed that much.

But he had to think of something to do quickly, otherwise the nerves would just start mounting again and he'd be too emotionally crippled to do anything else. _That _was the last thing he needed right now, so he had to take his mind off the battle.

_'Pikachu,' _He said, standing up and beginning to pace around the room. _'Remember that time when we came across Snorlax, and it fell on top of you? That wasn't good at all, I was so worried,' _The little mouse looked towards him and frowned, and he could tell what he was saying was upsetting it. Oops, he probably should have brought up less traumatising incidents, but for some reason what they had survived was making him feel a little more confident - this coming fight was not life or death. But of course talking about life threatening incidents would upset the poor creature, because no matter how bad it had been for Red, it had _happened _to Pikachu.

_'Sorry, I'll stop,' _He sighed, taking a seat again. _'Let's think about all of our gym battles instead,' _He leant back against the wall and mulled over everything he had been through - there had been Brock first, but nothing was really interesting about that fight. He couldn't remember that much anyway, it was so long ago now (the time went by so fast and sometimes that frightened him). The Boulder badge still held some sentimental value though, it _was _the first step towards the Pokemon League. Where he was now. About to fight the Champion.

And with that, his mind was instantly back in the present and stressing him out.

"Red," He jumped up from his seat, unbelievably excited that a League official was calling him through - the sooner, the better he'd feel. He followed her through the previously locked door, expecting to immediately be greeted with an arena of sorts, but instead found himself outside, walking down a garden path. He could see another large building in the distance, and he assumed that was where they were headed. It was a rather majestic looking building to be honest, even more so than the Indigo Plateau (which was hard to believe) with its huge arches and high ceilings. With each step towards it, Red could feel the fear rising, along with the excitement. Oh God, was he going to even survive the trip there?

He did (obviously, but much to his surprise), and was soon face to face with the doors to the stadium. He stood there for a moment, assessing the situation. Here he was, _Red, _about to fight the Champion of the Pokemon League - the _best _trainer in all of Kanto and Johto. It was unreal, and he couldn't help but think for a moment that he may just be dreaming. Because really, he'd said it before and he would say it again now, he was just a kid from Pallet Town who was totally boring with no special talents or qualities.

Yet, here he was.

Smiling to himself, Red pushed the doors open and stepped through into the arena. Automatically, his gaze drifted upwards and he noticed all the seats. They were empty at the moment, but they probably used this place for big tournaments and the like. He couldn't believe how large it was though, double the size of any of the Elite Four members areas, and he wondered if it was necessary. Surely they couldn't have built a smaller one that would have been just as effective? But that didn't matter at the moment, he had to concentrate on the battle. So he brought his eyes down and looked around the rest of the arena.

No way. Shit, this couldn't be serious.

"Go to hell, Red,"

Red's mouth twisted up into a smirk and then the battle begun, without any thought as to what just happened. They were both so caught up in their anger of seeing the other there, that neither of them really considered who they'd use first. Well, Red _hoped _that was what happened, because he had just acted on instinct and grabbed the first Pokeball within his reach, which had just so happened to belong to Blastoise. That was alright though, Green had released Alakazam and it wasn't weak to Psychic types but nor was it particularly strong.

"Attack with Psyshock," Green yelled out to his Alakazam - his voice was shaking with...uncertainty? Maybe not, perhaps fury instead? Red couldn't really tell, but that didn't matter. He was feeling a little less worried about the battle now, though Green had probably improved since their last battle, he had still won (every time, too) and he at least knew what to expect somewhat. On the down side, his friend could understand signing, so he didn't have that as an advantage. Even that didn't bother him though, it was nice to have a fair battle for both parties.

_'Curl into your shell,' _He responded, watching cautiously as a brightly coloured beam bounced off the walls and headed straight for Blastoise. The large creature tucked its head and limbs inside, and just in time too as the attack landed square in the middle of the shell. It spun a little, but besides that caused no major damage.

Red was angry at Green, there was no denying that, because _every _time he had done something whilst travelling, Green had done it first or done it better. So of course it was only fitting that Green was the Champion now, _just _to upstage Red. He would have thought that his alone would have been enough to make him battle with too much force like he had with Giovanni, but there was something holding him back this time. He wanted this position more than anything, but Green had just earnt it and no matter how arrogant he was, he had still worked hard for it and had been dreaming of it too. It didn't mean that Red didn't want to win and wasn't going to try, he was just...thinking about it. His friend would be devastated.

_'Don't raise yourself out of your shell completely,' _He instructed. _'Just about halfway, and then use Hydro Cannon on Alakazam,' _The massive creature did as it was told, moving so its forehead was just visible. The cannons on its back clicked into place and without shifting where it was, began the attack.

_"Don't worry, Red, they're all stupid anyway," Green remarked, holding his hand out for his friend to take and pull himself up from the grass. "It's not like they'd ever make it as trainers because they aren't very nice. And Tom's afraid of Geodude, so he'd never get through the Rock Tunnel,"_

_'Thanks,' Red replied, glancing over at the other children who had resumed their game of soccer and hadn't even spared a passing glance at them. He was only six, but he could tell that Green was just trying to make him feel better about the whole thing. Being told you can't play with them and that you'll never be able to be a pokemon trainer (something they knew he wanted to do) hurt, no matter how much he ignored them or told himself they didn't know anything. If it had been once or twice it wouldn't have bothered him, but the same situation every day would wear anyone's confidence thin. Green tried to help, but if he really wanted to, he could go and join the others._

_"I mean it," He continued as he began to walk in the direction of the swings. "You and I are going to fight the Elite Four one day, Red," He smiled and turned back to face the other boy. "I don't know when it'll be, but we will! We'll fight them together and we'll be the greatest trainers in the world! No one will ever be able to defeat Red and Green, and when we walk down the streets, people will ask for our autographs and wonder just how we got to be so strong!"_

_'We'll do that?' Red answered, smiling right back. Any mention of pokemon training made him grin like an idiot, he couldn't wait until he was fourteen!_

_"Of course we will!" Green cheered, clapping his hands in delight. "As soon as we're old enough, we're going to get all the gym badges and be the very best, Red!"_

Red chuckled silently to himself. Oh, how things had changed. If only he could tell his six year old self what was going to happen in the future, a whole lot of heartache could have been avoided. But then again, he probably wouldn't be where he was right now - versing the Champion (even though it _was _Green), if not for all that.

"Quickly now, Kinesis!" Green really was on the mark, as the water attack was headed right towards Alakazam. Unfortunately for Red, Hydro Cannon didn't end up hitting it, and instead the water was directed back at Blastoise and knocking it against the wall. Stupid Psychic attacks, Red really disliked them as there wasn't really much you could do to avoid them and they were difficult to damage. That blow hadn't been enough to knock Blastoise out thankfully (it was just water anyway), but it _had_ been enough to make it come out of its shell completely. Now that it was out again, he wouldn't be able to make it retract as it was too fired up. Darn.

There wasn't really anyway that he could damage Alakazam with long range attacks like Hydro Cannon, as the creature would just use Psychic every time and send it right back at them. But maybe if he was able to manipulate the attacks or use them against their opponent somehow, then perhaps he might succeed. He paused for a moment, allowing himself to think over something he could do. Blastoise wasn't exactly the fastest creature, but it certainly was strong and heavy.

_That's it! _Red smiled, watching Green watching him cautiously. _'Use Whirlpool but stand behind it,' _The large creature stomped its foot down onto the ground and began to spurt water out of its cannons. Said water began to swirl around, and then suddenly there was a...whirlpool (who'd have thought?) right in the middle of the arena. Red shifted where he was standing slightly so the water blocked him from Green, that way his opponent couldn't see what he was signing. _'Begin to walk towards Alakazam with the Whirlpool in front of you,' _He instructed, biting his lip nervously. _Please _let this work.

"Alakazam," The downside to stepping behind the whirlpool was that now Red could no longer see Green, only hear him. But he guessed that the creature had used some psychic attack as the water at the top of it was starting to fly out in different directions. He wasn't quite sure what Green was trying to achieve, but psychic attacks sure were annoying.

_'Don't stop using the attack,' _Red gritted his teeth together in frustration. _'And keep walking forwards, you're almost there,' _And it was only about five or so metres away from its opponent, though Red wanted it to be much closer than that if he wanted maximum impact and damage. He just had to hope that Green didn't pull anything that would severely hinder this.

"Light Screen," He breathed a sigh of relief, that was okay, he could work through that. But now Blastoise was in the best position, he just had to get it to drop the Whirlpool now. "And Psychic on the whirlpool!" Wow, he certainly was abusing that attack today. Once again, the water at the top of the whirlpool just began to fly about, and then suddenly it just...dropped and hit the floor with a large splash. _Flooding _the arena again. Red couldn't help smiling though, Green just got rid of the attack for him.

_'Now since you're right there,' _He grinned. _'Use Hydro Cannon,' _And well, being such a close distance towards the other creature, it didn't really stand much of a chance. It fell against the wall, unconscious and obviously unable to battle anymore.

Green recalled it angrily. "Fuck," He huffed and shook his head. "Red, this is crazy,"

_'I know,' _He replied. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel weird about this battle. He'd always pictured the Champion as someone older, more experienced - not _Green. _It didn't seem fair, but it was the reality, so he just had to go with it. The outcome would be the same if he won though, he'd be the Champion, no matter who he defeated.

Green reached into the bag sitting at his feet and pulled out another pokeball, releasing an Exeggutor. "Get in there first and use Leech Seed,"

_'Hey, mum, I want to be a trainer,' A seven year old Red admitted, staring down into his lap, a little anxious about the answer. He and Green had been talking about this since the latter had learnt to sign, and now only was he telling his mother. He had been kind of afraid that she'd tell him no and had put it off._

_"What?" She replied, frowning. "Are you sure, dear? You're still young and have a while to make up your mind,"_

_'I really want to,' He continued, standing his ground. He had been deliberating telling her for quite a while now, so he couldn't back out at this point. 'It'd be so much fun, and I could get all the gym badges and maybe even fight the Elite Four!'_

_"That would be fun," She smiled, leaning over and ruffling her son's hair. "But I just don't know how well you'd be able to battle with sign language. It might be a bit difficult, so maybe you should do research like Professor Oak instead? I think you'd do really well at something like that,"_

Blastoise was a powerful creature, but it wasn't particularly fast, so as such it wasn't able to avoid the Leech Seed attack. Said attack comprised of some sort of seed (who would have thought?) hitting Blastoise on the head, growing vines and wrapping them around it. It looked strange, but it was slowly exhausting the creature and didn't really allow it much mobility. Well, this battle wasn't off to a good start. There was one thing though, that Exeggutor was weak to.

_'Blizzard,' _The creature attempted to stamp its foot to start, but the Leech Seed made it near impossible and there was only very light snowfall and minimal wind. Fantastic, he finally got to battle in an open arena and he couldn't even make use of it.

"Exeggutor, Hypnosis,"

_'Close your eyes!' _He said as a last ditch attempt to prolong the battle. He knew it probably wouldn't work, but there was no harm in trying, right? Green had worked out the right sort of combination to defeat anything that didn't move very fast and Red had just figured that the best way to get the upper hand in a battle like this would be to strike first. Unfortunately this time he hadn't, and it was certainly showing as Blastoise had curled up into its shell, fast asleep.

"Now, follow with Giga Drain," It wasn't visible at first, but slowly a golden sort of glow snaked its way along the ground, making Blastoise twitch. But not only that, Leech Seed was still working away, rendering the huge creature useless. He hated seeing it like this, and to be honest, it was quite upsetting. So he pulled out its pokeball and recalled it quickly, knowing full well that it wouldn't be able to battle anymore and not wanting to subject the poor thing to further damage.

"Oh, my God!" Green suddenly screamed, making Red jump in surprise (the other boy had won, so why was he angry?) and Exeggutor turn towards its trainer in concern. "I can't believe this! Why do you have to be here?"

_'I'm not happy about it either,' _He replied, rolling his eyes. _'You're the last person I wanted to be the Champion,'_

He poked out his tongue. "Thanks, it's good to know I've got support,"

_'But you started it!' _Red took a step forward, glaring at the other boy. He was fighting him for the title, of course he didn't want him to win. But this situation was ridiculous, never did he think he'd be this bested by Green, and it angered him so much. It had happened with everything he'd accomplished in his journey here, but he was always the second person to accomplish something, _always _outdone just that little bit by Green Oak. It could never be Red's thing, it was always Green's with him just trailing behind.

"Yeah, because I've been the fucking Champion for two hours, and now that's going to all be taken away from me!" He was striding across the arena now, and for some reason, Red found himself walking forward to meet him in the middle. This had been brewing for a while now, and as such, Red had come to expect a fight, he had just been wondered when exactly it would happen. Once again, he didn't predict this as the scenario.

_'I haven't won yet,' _He said, attempting to keep calm.

"You will though," He hissed. "Because you've won every single fight we've had. Can't you just let me have something for once?"

Well, he certainly wasn't expecting that as an answer. _'This is coming from Green Oak, the guy who is always one step ahead of me in everything! Nothing I do is individual, because you've always done it before me! I thought maybe I'd get here and accomplish something by myself, but of course you have to be the Champion! Just so you can lord it over me that you're better! So go ahead, you've done such a good job of it in the past,'_

"I don't know what you're talking about. You've always been the favoured one, the kid who didn't speak, the one who was freakishly good at battling and stopped Team Rocket all by himself. Even Gramps liked you more than me!"

_'You're wrong, Green,' _Red shook his head slowly. _'But lets just finish battling, alright?'_

"Yeah, okay, whatever," And they both turned away from the other angrily and stalked back off to their sides of the arena, preparing to fight with even more ferocity than before.


	54. Champion 2

**Happy new year!  
**_(I'm celebrating 400 subscribers on youtube __200+ favourites on this story. Thank you so much guys, you're the best, seriously. I love you)_

This is chapter 50! I've been waiting so long to hit 50, it's come so slowly. But so fast at the same time, my head is spinning.

This probably interests no one, but my mother is teaching me sign language :D I thought it was kind of cool, considering this story and all.

Also, I'm going away up north for nine days on Saturday, so I'll try and get another chapter done before then, but if not, this is the last update until the 16th! I'm sorry! If I don't get a chapter written, I'll upload a oneshot or something :)

* * *

**Chapter 50: The Champion, part 2**

"To be perfectly honest, losing the Champion title was the worst thing to happen to me so far," Green admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "I know I've said that I didn't mind losing to Red before, but that was just me speaking in hindsight. When I _did _lose, I felt awful. Now I don't, because Red's absurdly good,"

* * *

Red took a deep breath. There would be no way that he could battle properly if he was just fuming at Green the whole time, everything would just revolve around him trying to beat him as cruelly as possible. And he didn't want that, he _wanted _to be a trainer who could control themself and not let their feelings get in the way. He'd learnt that that wasn't the proper way to win and usually resulted in some unpleasantness. He'd done this several times, the worst being with well, you know who it was.

But this time he wasn't going to let that happen. He'd think about what he was doing instead of going for it until he almost killed something, even if Green was totally wrong and a selfish, inconsiderate idiot. Because seriously, how could he not realise how much he outdid Red? In every single thing! It was so obvious that he did it purposely too, so he was just being stupid.

_'Your turn, Charizard,' _He said, releasing said creature after he finished. _'Now, swoop down towards Exeggutor and attack with Flamethrower, then fly away to the other side of the arena,'_

"Leech Seed it as it's coming towards you!" Green snarled, glaring at him. God, he was so angry and it made Red shiver a little. Green's glares were so cold and he hated being on the recieving end of them (as he had been many times). Charizard began to fly towards the other creature, waiting for the right moment to execute its own attack. It got to about ten metres away, when its opponent chucked a seed at it. In that split second, Red had to do something otherwise Charizard would be done for again, despite having a type advantage.

_'Stop Flamethrower and use Air Slash instead,' _The creature started flapping its wings (in a rather comical manner, Red had to admit) in an attempt to re-direct the Leech Seed attack. The attack wasn't re-directed in the end, but instead the seed was chopped to pieces and fell softly to the floor.

"Again, Exeggutor! Keep going until you hit it!"

Stupid Green! Why did he have to be so frustrating? He was even angrier now, but he wouldn't let that get in the way. No, not this time. _Calm down, Red. 'Use Air Slash each time it tries to hit you with Leech Seed,' _Charizard began whipping its wings around again in a mad frenzy, deflecting and ruining each seed. Eventually it got so dizzy from constantly moving, that it stumbled forward and hit Exeggutor with the attack, knocking the creature right over.

Well, he hadn't even thought of attacking it like that, but it had certainly been a good accident. Flying attacks _were _super effective against Exeggutor after all...

_"You're a loser, Red," An eight year old Green poked out his tongue at the other boy. "I want to play with Tom and all those other guys, and we don't want you here, so you should just go back home,"_

_In response, Red just placed his chin in his hand and stared up at Green. The first time this had happened a few months ago, Red had been quite upset and didn't really understand why his friend was so angry at him. He'd told his mother, and she had said that he was having a bit of a hard time lately and not to take it personally. He couldn't help it though, but as each time he saw Green, the same thing happened, the words had stopped stinging so much and now he just shrugged them off. If Green wanted to be a meany, then so be it._

_"Now I know what they meant when they said that it wasn't good to play the Elite Four with someone who'd never be a trainer. It's not fair on us, having you tagging along with it when you're so weird, and it's not fair to make you hope. So I don't want...stop staring at me! It's creepy!"_

_'I'll go, Green,' He stood up from the bench and started to walk back in the direction of his house. 'Have fun,' He'd learnt that sarcasm was usually the best way to respond in situations like this, it annoyed Green and that made him laugh._

He smirked at Green as Exeggutor tried to get itself back up from the ground. _'Now use Flamethrower,' _Charizard stomped its foot on the ground and hit its opponent with the fire, totally rendering it useless. This made him smirk even more - he'd done it! He'd taken out two of Green's now! That served him right for being such a stuck-up asshole, he deserved to be taken down like this!

"Go, Sandslash," Green yelled, balling his fists up. He was making the mistake that Red had been trying to avoid, letting his anger get in the way. But that didn't concern him, it was Green's problem, so he wouldn't worry about it. "Use fucking Earthquake," You know, sometimes the extent of Green's swearing still surprised Red (even if he was prone to doing it himself...sometimes. But no one could hear him, at least!).

_'Fly up to avoid it,' _He responded, and just in time too as the ground had begun to shake. He grabbed a hold of the wall behind him to steady himself, but the shaking was so bad and it knocked him over onto the ground. Well, he might as well stay here until the attack was over, othewise he'd just fall again. He heard Green laugh (presumably at him), so he shot him an evil look but saw that the other boy had fallen over too. But Green didn't look so angry anymore, or embarrassed because he'd tripped over. In fact, he was looking at Red and grinning, and for some reason, he couldn't help but grin back. He couldn't work out why this situation had made him happy all of a sudden though, but decided just to go with it. Better to avoid anger, after all.

And for a moment, he remembered what it was like when they were little and well, friends.

"Now, use Stone Edge!" Sandslash raised its arm up high and then brought it down, hitting the floor. And then automatically, all these stones flew up from the ground below Charizard (where they had come from was a mystery) and knocked it around. Just as it as hit though, the Earthquake attack had begun to slow down and as Charizard hit the ground, it had come to a complete stop. Bad timing for Green, great for Red as Charizard was only hurt by the second attack.

_'Flare Blitz,' _It was his turn this time. _'But use Fly again so you can strike it from above,' _The dragon jumped upwards, launching itself into the air. As he watched the creature start to attack, something changed and he felt his stomach start to sink. What Green had said had begun to play itself over and over in his mind, and it was unsettling him. _"I've been the fucking Champion for two hours, and now that's going to all be taken away from me! You've won every single fight we've had. Can't you just let me have something for once?"_

He was right, he was going to take the Champion title away from him and even though it was Green, that made him feel more than just a little awful. He would absolutely hate it if he'd just won and gotten everything he had worked for, and then someone just sauntered up and beat him, just like that. That would be the worst feeling ever, and now he was doing just that to Green. But he couldn't stop now, then _he'd _never accomplish what he wanted. He felt terrible, but he still wanted to win, it wasn't pleasant.

And maybe Green felt some animosity towards him because even though he'd always been the one to outshine him in everything, Red had still won every battle they'd had. That couldn't have done wonders for his (it was over-inflated anyway) confidence, especially since he was now the Champion and all. To have someone constantly beat you, no matter how hard you trained and tried, probably wouldn't be a good thing. In fact, that's probably why whenever they had finished, Green would say something like _"my rival has to keep me sharp". _He'd never really thought about it from that perspective before, but maybe there were ill feelings on both sides...

The attack went off without a hitch though, and hit Sandslash directly. The poor creature collapsed onto the ground, and for the first time, Red felt a little bad. But it was either him lose or Green lose, and the former was _very _unappealing. Charizard flew back down, and for a moment seemed to be totally fine. But then it just fell, totally exhausted. He'd known the attack caused recoil damage, but he didn't realise that it had already been so tired.

_'Well done,' _He said quickly, before returning it. _'Now, Venusaur,' _He released the other creature out in front of him, and then suddenly realised that he shouldn't have been so hasty because its opponent was Green's Ninetales. Shit, it would be a miracle if it survived this, but at least he had Lapras for afterwards. The appearance of Ninetales had seemed to change the weather conditions though, and even though the sun was setting, it was really, really bright. Intensified fire attacks, cool...

"Fire Blast!" Green called, pointing at the fox. Was it Red's imagination, but did Green not sound as angry as he had earlier? Maybe it was because of that Earthquake attack still, or maybe he'd been hit with the same realisation as he had. Either way, it was nice not to be battling with such dislike and fury anymore. That made them stronger, but it really wasn't the most pleasant atmosphere or anything.

_'Giga Drain,' _Red replied, mentally crossing his fingers that his attack would strike first. He watched in anticipation as Venusaur started to move, but the attack was cut short as it was hit right in the back by the Fire Blast. Dang, Green knew the weak spot of the Bulbasaur family. How? He didn't even have one himself! Actually, his Grandfather was a professor...

But a few more hits there and Venusaur was done for, so he had to do something to prevent that. And in fact, he knew exactly what would work.

_'Try Synthesis,' _The attack worked under any weather conditions, but _especially _well if it was sunny. Considering Ninetails's Drought ability was working at the moment, so would Synthesis. The flower on Venusaur's back began to glow slightly, and even though you couldn't see it, it was absorbing the sunlight and (hopefully) healing itself. It took a while, and Red thought it was almost done when it was interrupted by Ninetales hurling some sort of fireball towards it. Red had been so concentrated on the attack he hadn't even heard Green say anything.

The attack hit Venusaur and it reared up on its hind legs in surprise, crying out at the same time. The fire burnt itself out, but had left a nasty looking burn where it had first hit on its torso. It limped back forward, turning its head towards Red and whimpering slightly. He felt a little bad for it, but it would be alright eventually. A little burn wasn't going to kill it.

_'Now use your Solarbeam attack,' _He signed. Grass was weak against the fire type, but Solarbeam was a strong attack so he reckoned (or just hoped) that it evened out. It raised the flower on its back slightly and it began to glow again, charging up.

_'You don't want me to be a trainer, do you?' Red questioned his mother. She was sitting in the lounge room, reading something, but raised her head in surprise. 'Because every time I bring it up, you always suggest other things I could do,' He was thirteen now, and as such could tell that she had been trying to dissuade him from the idea. He hadn't noticed so much when he was younger, but now as he was nearing the minimum age, he had been talking about it and she had been discouraging him more often._

_"What are you talking about, sweetie?" She laughed nervously. "Of course I do,"_

_'No, you don't!' He huffed. 'Everyone else says I won't be able to do it, and you always ask me if its a good idea and say I should become like, Oak's research assistant or something. But I don't want that, mum! I want to go out and see all the cities and battle! I want to become the Champion of Kanto, not sit around here all my life. Pallet sucks, it's boring and all the kids hate me,' He took a deep breath. He hadn't meant to explode so much then, but he just couldn't help it. He was so sick of everyone telling him that he couldn't do it (because they did, constantly), that he wanted to become a trainer even more now. He'd go out there and show them that even if he did only use sign language, he could still battle at least. And he would become the Champion, he would._

_"I know, Red," She replied, unfazed by his rant. "I just worry about you, that's all. What if you don't make it to the Elite Four? I don't want you feeling that disappointed,"_

_'Have a little faith, mum,' Great support. That certainly made him feel better about the whole thing - she thought he wouldn't be able to do it. She just responded by standing up from the lounge, kissing her son on the forehead and walking out of the room, leaving Red feeling quite confused about what exactly had transpired._

"Dodge, Ninetales!" The fox jumped up, just as Venusaur fired the attack, narrowly missing the beam of light. Venusaur shifted itself slightly so the attack was following Ninetales around, but the creature kept leaping out the way, _just _missing the Solarbeam. Darn, the thing was so much faster and nimbler that his pokemon, he'd have to figure out some other tactic. Unfortunately, Red had forgotten about that burn Venusaur had attained earlier, and as the attack was halfway through, its front two legs buckled and it cried out.

"While its down, Fire Blast once more,"

_'Get up and move out the way, Venusaur,' _But try as it may, the poor creature was still crippled from the burn and couldn't drag itself to the other side of the arena fast enough. It was hit head on by the attack, and collapsed just afterwards. Red sighed, feeling sorry for it. That was pretty brutal, considering how badly fire hurt the grass type. But now they were even, each had three pokemon left.

That thought didn't help that sinking feeling in his stomach which had just been getting progressively worse since the initial thought. He was going to ruin this for Green, everything they had both worked for for so long. And maybe he hadn't always been that nice to him when they had met in those various towns, but he was only responding to how Green treated him! Maybe he had been in the wrong about a few things though. He'd never thought about how Green may feel or perceive it though, and maybe he felt just as bad about Red as Red did about him. He had always just figured that none of it bugged him.

God, he felt sick all of a sudden. He wanted to apologise or something, so they could at least have some semblance of a friendship, but he didn't want to at the same time. He was still too proud to do it, and Green had more to say sorry about anyway. He's the one who had yelled and screamed at him since they were eight, he had started it! But he hadn't mediated it, he had just responded in the same way. Right up until now, and particularly in Saffron City. Green had just tried to help him that time, and he was responsible for the Raticate incident too. Shit, he hadn't always been the one doing the right thing.

He raised his hands, about to sign something, but then instead he pulled out the pokeball with Lapras inside. He didn't know what to say anyway. _'Use Hydro Pump,' _He said, trying to ignore the "I'm going to throw up" feeling. It hit Ninetales, sending the creature flying across the stadium and almost crashing into Green's legs. It got up again, but was visibly weakened. Sweet.

"Energy Ball," Green responded, smiling slightly. It whipped its tails around, conjuring up some sort of glowing...ball, and sent it hurtling right towards Lapras. The creature tried to shimmy out the way, but was unsuccessful and was hurt by the attack. It was grass too, so it was quite a harsh blow.

_'Brine,' _He looked up at the other boy, and as soon as their eyes met, there was a flash of understanding. Be it that they were both feeling bad suddenly, or that they simply weren't so angry anymore, there was something and it briefly put Red's worries at ease. Green didn't glare at him, he just stared with his eyebrows slightly raised. There hadn't been this little tension between them for at least seven years now, and to be honest, it was quite relieving.

His attention was directed away from Green when there was a loud whimper from Ninetales, who had just been hit by Lapras's move.

_'Finish it off with Ice Shard,' _He signed. That was all that was needed, and the creature collapsed on the ground after the impact of the attack. Red didn't feel quite so ecstatic this time, he felt kind of bad for Green. The battle was coming closer to the end, and that both excited and terrified him. He was terrified for Green and how the boy would react, but he was so excited because then _he _would be the Champion (that is if he won, of course). But he still couldn't believe it. It only felt like a few days ago he'd traipsed to the Professor's laboratory to receive Pikachu.

"I'm sorry, Red," Green's voice broke him out of his thoughts and he looked up at him in confusion. Was he quitting the match or something? "I mean, for being, an um...you know, kind of a...jerk sometimes," Red's mouth twitched up into a smile, he hadn't been expecting that ever. He'd never thought Green would ever apologise or even admit that he might have gotten something wrong. Especially now, right in the middle of this humongous battle.


	55. Champion 3

FREAKING LONG CHAPTER.

So yes, I present you all with the second or third last chapter of Speak Up. Oh my Jesussss, it's almost over. I can't believe this. When I first planned this fic, I only was going to write one chapter per city, and only had about 13 chapters planned. That soon went out the window, hahahaha.

Anyway, not sure about this. I hope it makes sense.

ALSO. Should I do a Gold story continuing on from this? And if so, ideas for Gold's team? Red's was easy, because it was already planned, but I'd have to take liberties for Gold's. Hmm.

Haha, I came back from my holiday on Tuesday, and two days later there was a shark attack up where we'd been staying. Kinda glad I got home when I did. Heh.

**ENJOY.**

* * *

**Chapter 51: Finals**

_'Becoming the Champion of the League was the most surreal moment of my life, hands down,' _Red said. _'Surreal can be either good or bad, and let's just say it wasn't as good as I thought it would be,'_

* * *

Red threw one of his pokeballs into the air (he'd at first pulled out that Light Ball thing his mother had given to him as they were the same shape, but had given it over to Pikachu because the mouse had been watching it eagerly), and that opened to reveal his giant Snorlax standing in the middle of the arena. He thought he saw a flash of nervousness across Green's face, (after all Snorlax were known to be fairly strong, slackers as well, but powerful nonetheless) but as soon as he saw it, it was gone again and he had released a Cloyster. Its shell was glistering in the sun which was still shining from Ninetales's drought ability. Red mentally thanked Green for this, as it would be an advantage because Cloyster's water attacks would be slightly weakened..

_'__Snorlax, use Body Slam!'_ The huge pokemon started to move to Cloyster but the sheer size made him slower than desired.

Green wasted no time. "Cloyster use Shell Smash!" To Red's confusion the clamp's shell started to crack. He wondered why he would order a move that was clearly lowering its defense, but knew that it wasn't for his benefit. Green was clearly using some strategy. He watched as Cloyster's shell was shedded, revealing a not only tinner shell but also more sharp. Snorlax finally reached its opponent, but before he could come down onto it... "Cloyster use Razor Shell" Well, ouch. The water pokemon slashed at Snorlax's belly at the exact time as Snorlax was about to crush it with an edge of its shell. The larger monster cried out in pain and reeled back, falling down in the opposite direction of the Body Slam attack.

Green grinned, clearly pleased with what he was doing so far. "Follow with Icicle Spear!" One, two, three, four and five hits, one after the other and all hitting right on target. Snorlax was thrashing around and Red was cringing for the poor thing. His thoughts were racing nervously in his mind, he'd noticed something important about the first attack his rival had used, but he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was... Shell Smash obviously lowered the pokemon's defenses, but it couldn't just do that for no reason. Thinking back to the previous moves, he remembered noticing that Cloyster's attacks were a lot faster than what they should ahve been and also that they were inflicting more pain. This was evident by the normally stoic face of Snorlax which was now contorted in pain.

That's it! His defenses were super thin now, so he'd have to take advantage of that. He figured a good way was to deliver one forceful blow. _'Snorlax, endure his next move!' _It was all or nothing now.

"Razor Shell again!" Snorlax took a defensive stance, squaring itself up in preparation for the attack. The attack hit it right on target, but instead of falling over again, Snorlax just...stood there

_'Thunderpunch!'_ The attack was a success, but even though Cloyster was whining in pain, it wasn't unconscious. Dang, it could still battle! Mind you, he should have realised that Green wouldn't have just used an attack that left his pokemon so open like that.

Green poked his tongue out at him from across the stadium. "This is it, Cloyster, use Rock Blast!"

...But nothing happened.

Cloyster tried to move for the attack, but tiny sparks shot of his body. He was paralyzed, sweet. With wide eyes from the stroke of luck, Red commanded, _'Thunderpunch again, and follow it with Body Slam!'_ Snorlax repated the previous attack and followed by letting himself fall to the paralyzed pokemon. Pretty, simple, hey? Cloyster was out of commission and now it was down to the end. He recalled Snorlax quickly, as did Green with Cloyster. _'Guess what, buddy?' _He turned lifted Pikachu off his shoulder and took the Light Ball out of its hands. _'Its finally your turn to battle,'_

"Go, Eevee," Green said, sending out his started which had been curled around his legs for the latter part of the battle. "Double Team!" Eevee was there one moment, and then the next there were about fifty, and they were all circled around Pikachu. It had happened so quickly that Red wasn't even able to tell where the little creature had started the attack from. Pikachu peered at all the "clones", not sure what to make of what had happened. It was a little hard on the two, fighting like this, as they'd always gotten on quite well despite their trainers not.

_'Charge through them all with Volt Tackle,' _With any luck, it would go around the circle and hit the real one. The mouse started to run, heading straight through all the fake doubles of Eevee - thank goodness, they weren't solid, that had been his main concern. It got about two thirds around the circle and ran headfirst into it, sending the poor creature flying off and whimpering in pain from the electricity.

"Jump back to where Pikachu is and use Bite," Green certainly wasn't wasting any time, and Eevee landed nimbly next to Pikachu, latching onto its tail with its teeth. The poor creature, it cried out in surprise and began to sprint around the room, trying to fling it off. Of course it didn't work though, they were around the same size and Eevee's bite was pretty tough.

_'Thunder,' _It was pretty hard to attack with something hanging off your tail, but Pikachu charged itself up and directly hit Eevee. What a perfect position! The strength of the attack most surprised Red though, the whole arena lit up this time, and there was no way that Pikachu's Thunder had been that powerful before. What had changed? Maybe the creature was just all _charged _up for the fight? He had given it a pep talk at the state.

Eevee let go of Pikachu, and Red noticed Green mutter something under his breath. "Use Return, Eevee," The little creature regained its footing from the previous attack and then began running towards Pikachu at full speed. It jumped just as it was about to hit it and collided with the mouse from above, almost like a Take Down attack. A whole lot more powerful though (Eevee must really love Green), as Pikachu was knocked down with a force big enough to hurt a person.

_'Come on buddy, get up, you can do it!' _His heart was hammering in his chest as he watched Pikachu shakily attempt to stand back up. That attack had been really rough, no wonder the poor creature was so hurt. But it couldn't give up now! He was so close, he just couldn't lose this. _'Agility when you're able,'_

"Return again," Green shouted and Eevee complied. Great, Pikachu would never be able to survive another hit. It was thrown helplessly to the ground again, and just as it started to move itself... "Return once more!"

Okay, the two attacks didn't knock Pikachu out, but it was darn near fainting point. It could hardly stand back up, but with its iron will, was determined to go on. Red was so grateful for that trait right now, nothing would be worse than if it was lazy. _'Still use Agility,' _He commanded with a grin, and the mouse took off. Man, it never ceased to impress him, it was so exhausted, yet could still run like it was the beginning of the battle. What a champ. Eevee was looking all around the arena, trying to locate Pikachu, but each time it did, the other creature was gone. _'Now run close to Eevee and use Iron Tail,' _

It was almost invisible at this point, and Eevee did not see it running towards it. Pikachu swung its tail around and sent Eevee flying up. A perfect position for another attack. _'While its in the air, use Thunder,' _To this date, Red has never seen an electric attack quite like this one. It seemed as if the creature had been storing up all its electricity since he had received it, keeping it for a situation like this. The light would have been visible from the outside (open stadium, remember?) even, it was crazy. Red lated pondered why the sudden change in power, and he brought it down to the Light Ball. He hadn't realised that it would work so well, if he had, he would have used it much sooner.

With that final hit, Eevee collapsed to the ground, unconscious and obviously unable to battle. (How could it survive an attack like that, really?) Red's heart leapt in his chest as he waited for that feeling of elation of come over him. He'd done it, he'd beaten Green. He'd beaten the _Champion_, what he'd been aiming for and obsessing over since he was little. Him. Red. It didn't sound right and it didn't seem real _and _the feeling wasn't coming so he didn't feel happy about it. The whole time he'd been travelling he'd been dreaming of this moment and had always thought that he would be ecstatic, but as he stood here watching Green frown it just wasn't quite what he thought it would be. If asked later, Red would attest that right from the beginning being the Champion didn't feel right.

And Green _was _frowning, but he was staring at the ground at the same time. As if Red wasn't frightened enough of how the boy was going to react, this silence was just making it worse. He was expecting to be yelled at or something, but it didn't happen. Instead, Green just continued to stand there and mutter to himself, almost inaudibly.

"No, that can't be," He heard. "You beat my best even after all that work to become League Champ," He couldn't quite tell whether Green was talking to him or just to himself, but that didn't really matter because it just made him feel even worse about winning. He'd thought this would be the best day of his life, it had been everything he'd wanted for so long, but...it wasn't. He wasn't happy at all, nor excited. What was wrong with him?

Green looked up at Red at this point, and the latter was surprised to see absolutely no anger in his eyes. He was at least expecting him to be a little annoyed or something, but there was nothing. _'Why?' _He continued, staring directly at him. _'Why did I lose, Red? I never made any mistakes raising my team, darn it!' _There was a pause, and Red could tell that the other boy was confused over his blank expression. _'You're the new Pokemon League Champion, Red, although I don't like to admit it,'_

_'Thanks, Green,'_

"Shit," There we go. "I'm er, proud of you. I know you beat me, but I mean it," Well, he hadn't been expecting that from Green, _ever. _Though he had to admit it was nice to finally gain some recognition from the guy who was constantly telling you he was the best, but it didn't make him feel any better. "I never thought you'd get very far because I didn't think pokemon could understand signing and because I didn't think people would give you a fair chance. But you've succeeded, higher than anyone's expectations of you, of _any _trainer, and that's kind of admirable. That's why," He added a nervous laugh at the end, clearly a little embarrassed to be admitting something like that.

_'That means a lot,' _Red replied, nodding at the guy who _was_ his friend, and then wasn't, but now was again. It was kind of confusing to try and explain, but you've been following this, so you understand.

"Red!" A second voice echoed from behind, and they turned to find a breathless Oak running towards them. "Congratulations!" He fell silent for a moment, catching his breath. Red looked at Green, raising his eyebrows, and the other boy just shrugged his shoulders. "You've grown up so much from when you first left Pallet with that Pikachu, we're all so proud of you back home!" He smiled in appreciation, though the latter statement bothered him. All those people in Pallet who had told him not to do it were proud of him? Yeah, whatever.

"How come you didn't visit me when I won, Gramps?" Green asked, peering up at his Grandfather with narrowed eyes. If this had been about eight months ago, he would have just stomped around and shouted. He had definitely matured too, he didn't seem _quite _(that being the operative word) so selfish anymore. _This _though, was supposed to be the best moment of his life, but instead he just felt even worse for Green. He shouldn't, as this was the guy who had constantly belittled him for seven years! He _should _have been feeling justified that he had finally gotten what he wanted and that Professor Oak - the most respected science figure in the region - was proud of him. But he wasn't feeling like that at all, in fact, he was feeling sick. No matter how annoying Green had been, he should not have been deserted and forgotten by his own Grandfather.

"Oh, I was going to," Oak waved his hand dismissively. "But something important came up, and by the time I got here, you had already lost!" Okay, so now he was actually going to throw up. The heartbroken look on Green's face made him turn right around and sprint out of the arena, towards the bathrooms. He located them and leant over the sink, not wanting to but prepared to be sick. How could the Professor just ignore his Grandson like that? Maybe Green had been right in saying that he liked him more. He felt so guilty...

"Are you alright?" He spun around to find Green standing in the doorway, watching him carefully.

_'I'm okay, I suppose,'_

"What happened just then?" He continued, ignoring his comment. It was obvious that he wasn't alright, so he didn't really expect anything else. But what else could he say? He didn't want to make it worse for Green, or himself. "You just kind of...ran away. It wasn't nerves, was it?"

He shook his head. Well, here goes. _'I just couldn't believe that the Professor didn't come and see you, that's just wrong. So I sort of felt like I was going to throw up,'_

Green cast his eyes to the ground, and he could tell that he was really quite hurt by this. "I told you he liked you more," He chuckled joylessly. "But don't worry about me, Red. I'll survive, I always do," He added a forced grin at the end.

_'But he's your Granddad!'_

"Today is massive for you," He kept going. "Seriously, don't let me bring it down. You have to go record your data into the Hall of Fame, so let's go. No use hanging around in here all day," Green grabbed onto his shoulders and started to push him out the door. "We have to go now, otherwise you'll have to explain what just happened, and considering it was about Gramps, you probably don't want to do that," So that explained the insistence. Red shook himself out of Green's grip and broke into a run. Green made a good point, being silent would not get him out of an explanation this time. Especially since he had a perfectly good translator trailing behind him.

They reached the arena again, but instead of Oak just standing there, there were the Elite Four too, and most of the gym leaders (spare one particular one, of course). Oh great, so now he had an audience. This wasn't going to be a comfortable situation, he could tell that much already.

"Congratulations, Red!" Lance spoke up first, extending his hand. He took it, but despite all the adulation, he still wasn't happy about it. Maybe he was just shocked? Yeah, that had to be it. He was regarded as the best trainer in Kanto and Johto, and he was only fifteen. He'd thought it would be great, but it felt a bit too much to deal with. Unfortunately Lance speaking seemed to have opened the gates, the others and he was suddenly flooded with everyone speaking at once.

"I knew you could do it!"

"You deserved to win!"

"I remember when we battled, I didn't realise you'd make it this far!" It was overwhelming, to say the least. He didn't like crowds normally, and _especially _not in this situation. He had thought it would be a low-key thing, win or lose, but no, it wasn't. Though he didn't know why he expected something other than this, it _was_ a big deal. He took a step backwards and closed his eyes to try and make sense of the situation. He'd be okay, there was nothing to worry about. He could do it, they were all telling him that, weren't they? He didn't even notice he had started to sign something, it was only brought to his attention when Green spoke.

"Red says thanks," He translated. "And that he enjoyed battling all of you,"

Well, to be honest, he wasn't signing that. He was saying something along the lines of _'I've just become the Champion, so you think I'd be excited, right? But I'm not, and it's freaking me out so could you all please stop crowding me? I can't do this at the moment,' _So yeah, probably better that Green wasn't translating what he was really saying. Hopefully they'd buy it, his expression didn't really convey happiness or anything of that kind.

Green looked at him in concern, but continued talking anyway. "He also appreciates your support, but feels kind of guilty for taking the title away from me so quickly," Wow, he'd been expecting more passive aggression than that, so he felt like he was getting off lightly. But Red wasn't really concentrating on such a thing, he was focused more on the other boy signing at the same time he spoke. _'I don't know why you're so down about this, you beat me. I thought you'd be ecstatic or something, but at least act happy, alright?' _He nodded and smiled slightly, taking another step backwards. They seemed fine enough with that, so he was left once again to wonder just why he wasn't feeling it.

"I didn't know you could sign," Lance said to Green, and Red silently thanked whoever was up there that the attention was diverted from him. At least for a little while. Plus, Green would love having everyone crowding around him, that was his thing.

"I've know Red since we were born, so of course I do," He replied, and it was at this point that Red zoned out. He picked up Pikachu from where it was standing around his feet and placed the creature on his shoulder, ruffling the fur on its head. So this was what being the Champion was going to be like. Everyone constantly in your face about things, being rearded in awe but feared at the same time, _and _standing in this room all day, _every _day waiting for someone to come and challenge you so they could take away the title that you'd worked so hard for. The only thing that he could really say the position had going for it was glory, and he didn't even really care about that anymore. He would much prefer just to go about his business and travel like he was before, but it was too late for that now, wasn't it? Plus, without the gyms, what would he do?

"Oh, Red!" It snapped him out of his daydream, and when he noticed that it was his mother calling him this time, he smiled geniunely. She walked towards the large crowd of trainers and pulled her son into a hug (which he hadn't been expecting so he was taken aback a little). "I'm so proud of you! You finally did it!" Well, that was nice, but he did remember snidely how she hadn't really believed he _could _do it. It would surprise her even more when she found out that he didn't even want to be the Champion.

Wait, he hadn't meant that. How could he not want this? He'd been working towards it for so long.

But the more he _did _think about it, the more it made sense. He was never a fan of glitz and attention, like, at all. He was happy just travelling around with his team. Man, what a predicament. But what would he do about it?

"And this young lady came to Pallet a few days ago, asking at Samuel's for you," His mother motioned behind her, where Mia was suddenly standing. To say Red was surprised would be an understatement - he certainly wasn't expecting her to come along. Had she seen him battling? A tiny part of him hoped that she had, because even if he wasn't feeling well, he could have at least shown off a little. "So she came along with us,"

"Hey, Red," She grinned. He half-wanted to hug her for just being here, but figured that it would be kind of awkward if he did (and he didn't really know how to instigate it anyway) "I can't believe I know the Champion of Kanto, it's unbelievable! Congratulations,"

_'Who is this?' _Green, who had apparently been watching (he'd thought he was still talking to Lance) interrupted, nudging the other boy with his elbow. He stopped midway and peered at her, as if he was trying to figure something out. _'Wait! I know her!' _He exclaimed. "You're that girl that I talked to when Raticate...you know..."

_'I am,' _She laughed and Green's eyes widened when she replied with signing but he didn't say anything. _'My Eevee was sick at the time and the Vermilion Pokecentre was the closest,'_

_'Her name is Mia,' _Red continued.

"Red, come with me!" The Professor suddenly grabbed his arm and began leading him towards a room on the outer of the arena. Aw, he'd wanted to talk with her more, but this was probably important too. Though In all the hustle and bustle he'd forgotten Oak was even there, but as he did remember, the ill feeling in his stomach returned. Great, fantastic.

But whatever the reason, it was still sweet. He was stopped mid-stride as he noticed that he was now standing in a very fancy room. It reminded him of the interior of the S.S Anne - red and gold - and he hadn't liked that.

Against the wall was a desk with a computer and a golden trophy, which Oak was standing by. "This is the Pokemon League Hall of Fame," He began, switching on the machine. "The Champions are honoured for their exploits here, as you can probably tell by all the plaques and awards," Funny, he hadn't even noticed them. Now that they had been pointed out though, he could really tell how hyped-up it all was. Certificates for excellence and broken records were everywhere, as well as photos of previous Champions like in that other room. This time Green was up too, but there wasn't a photo, just a plaque with his name. They probably hadn't gotten around to taking one yet, and now never would. Well, that was a little sad.

"Their pokemon are also recorded," Oak smiled. "Red, you have endeavoured hard to become the new League Champion, so congratulations!" Red stared up at the Professor, not sure what to do next. Luckily, Oak was able to pick up on this and he reached for the trophy on the other side of the desk. "This is for you, it commemorates your victory," He took it reluctantly, a trophy was the _last _thing he wanted right now. He thought they looked tacky anyway... But what _didn't_ look tacky was the money sitting inside the cup of the trophy.

On another occasion, Red probably would have been more than happy to receive a whole lot of money. In fact, it would have made his life a whole lot easier, particularly during those times where he had nothing himself and had to mooch off the Pokecentre. But right now, even though it looked nice, it couldn't make him feel right about this. He didn't want the position, therefore he didn't deserve the money. Plus, twenty thousand, or whatever insane amount it was was too much for a fifteen year old to take care of. Plus, his track record of saving money wasn't the best.

He placed the trophy and cash down, pushing it slightly away. He'd have to collect it sometime, but for now he could at least try and forget it was there.

* * *

That hadn't taken long, all he'd had to do was place the pokeballs (and Pikachu) in this scanning machine, where all their information was recorded - date received, moves known and so forth. Then he'd had to type in his own information (which hadn't been fun as you know, being technologically illiterate and all) and press enter. And then that was it. It had been his favourite part so far because it hadn't been made a big deal. No fancy things, it had just been him and Oak, no pressure. But now he had to leave the room again and face that crowd.

He stepped out of the room and was immediately flooded with many more people than had been there when he had left only a few minutes ago. But these weren't just more trainers, oh no, they were holding cameras and microphones and were now rushing towards him, yelling things out. Darn, if it wasn't overwhelming enough before...

"This is Reed from the Lucky Radio Channel. What's it like being the Champion of the Kanto and Johto regions?" The first guy asked, shoving a microphone up to his face. He batted it away, only to be greeted with another one along with a video camera right up close.

"How does it feel to have taken the position off your long-time rival?" How did they even know that sort of stuff? His life had been fairly private right up until this, and now this was the thing he least wanted! Stupid media attention, he hadn't realised that it would be like this. Being on the news for defeating Team Rocket had already been bad enough! He shook his head at the camera and then pointed over to Green. He loved this sort of stuff, so he could answer. They all looked over to the other boy (probably thinking _'at last, some response from this kid!') _and Red made a break to where Mia and his mother were standing. The latter gave him a sympathetic look and he just rolled his eyes.

"Red!" Lance called. "I have to show you to your office, as it's late and the League should technically be closed now," Red let out a sigh of relief, he could get away from these crazy people (who were swarming around Green now). He began to follow him, ignoring the snide comments of _"yeah, my office" _coming from the former Champion. God, he was getting an office? That didn't seem right, considering he didn't even want the position. But he had to do something before they started putting his name up places, it wouldn't be right to string them along like that.

He got about a third of the way to the door when once again he was stopped. This time it was Mia, so he didn't mind so much. She grabbed his arm, leant in and really quickly pecked his cheek, mumbled congratulations and then ran off back to where the rest of the trainers were standing. Red was still for a moment, unable to comprehend what had just happened, but when he did, he smiled and turned around, running after Lance who hadn't stopped.

When he'd first arrived at the League, he'd wondered why there were so many floors, but as Lance led him into the building and up the many sets of stairs, he knew. They were for administration, which was a fairly obvious answer. He probably should have guessed, but he never really thought about it other than that one time. The Pokemon League was a huge organisation after all, they controlled everything to do with training and battling in the region, so it was only fitting they needed "ten million" storeys, as he had first put it.

And now he was the head of the organisation. Shit.

They got to the fifteenth floor and Lance pointed to the first door on the right. _The Champion _was printed in big black letters, and Red was really hesistant in opening it. He probably would have just stared at it for an hour or two contemplating the situation if the other man hadn't been standing right next to him. So he pushed on the door and revealed a small room with a table covered with paper and books in the middle. So this was _his_ place, hey?

"Sorry about the mess," Lance chuckled. "They're all forms that Green was meant to fill in, so you can throw them out now," He hovered there for a moment and then took a step out of the room. "I should be heading off, it's late and I have to get home," He waved his hand. "I'll see you tomorrow, the League opens at eight," Then he was gone.

And finally Red was alone. He took a seat on the chair pulled into the desk and rested his forehead on the surface. He was exhausted, but there would be no way he could sleep without deciding what to do about these stupid doubts. He could take the easy way out and keep the position that he'd vied for and had thought would be the best thing in the world for so long, but then he'd be unhappy and would be fooling the League, which he'd then feel even worse about. That would be simple enough, but wouldn't be good in the long run.

Then there was the difficult option, which probably involved somehow giving up the position. But then there would be questions and he'd have to try and explain his ridiculous thought process, but he'd be better off later if he did. So really, neither choice was very appealing. It was weird though, being in such a high-powered position at fifteen. He didn't even really deserve it, someone older (and ready to handle a steady job) should have it instead. The last thing he wanted at his age was to work everyday, all day - and work was what it was, the office was proof enough of that. It wasn't just endless training and battling like he'd originally thought.

Sure, it was a great position if you liked the attention, which Green did, but Red didn't. He just felt lost, this was everything he had wanted since he was little, and now it wasn't at all what he'd envisioned.

So he'd give the position to Lance.

* * *

**Stupid Mia. I had originally planned romance, but as things went along, I realised I didn't much want that. But I had to finish it up somehow, so I hope you don't all hate me for that kiss bit.**


	56. Epilogue

Red had always found it funny that for the past three years whenever someone asked for a strong trainer to battle, his name would be the first one mentioned. Because despite training on this freezing mountain and being the former Champion of the Kanto and Johto League, he still didn't feel that he was very good, let alone supposedly the best in the two regions. He also wondered why everyone knew about him, but he always brought it down to the fact that his victory against Green was highly publicised and his departure even more so. There was the Team Rocket thing too, a lot of peple had recognised him after that.

He was seen by most people as that kid (despite being eighteen now) that braved the cold and lived on Mount Silver, a place which was already famous for housing powerful and dangerous pokemon. They thought he never left there, but he did quite frequently. Just because that's where he resided now, it didn't mean that he didn't have a life to maintain in Kanto. He'd visit Green in Viridian and his mother too, there was the Professor and Mia as well. He couldn't just forget about all those people, could he? But because everyone thought he just stayed in the mountain constantly, he could travel the region without worrying about being identified.

It was always weird when someone did recognise him though, and he wasn't sure if he liked it. They'd be so surprised that they ran into him, so he'd just smile as if to say "yeah, I'm just an average person like you." Mount Silver was good though, he didn't have to worry about people constantly asking him things even though they knew full well he couldn't answer and just getting in his face. He'd experienced that for about ten minutes after he'd won the League and that had been enough for his lifetime. He preferred to be by himself anyway, and when he wasn't down in Kanto, the only company he received were ambitious trainers wanting to try their luck. Oh, and Green too. He trekked up there to visit sometimes, always proclaiming loudly that he didn't understand what was "so great about this Godforsaken mountain," and that it was "bound to kill us sooner or later." Neverminding that it was his suggestion for Red to train up here anyway.

After leaving a note for Lance saying that he could have the position all those years ago, Red had spent the night in the Pokecentre in the League building as he didn't really have anywhere else to be. It was kind of amusing seeing all the hopeful trainers bunking there before they took on the Elite Four the next day - and to think he had been one of them that morning. They had no idea what was in store and that if he hadn't ditched the title one of them could have been versing him.

He woke the next morning to find footage of his battle with Green (he hadn't even realised they'd captured it) playing on the televisions mounted to the walls. The news presenter said that the Indigo League was welcoming a new Champion, the boy that had rescued Saffron from the clutches of Team Rocket. He'd sprinted out of there, hoping that no one had time to recognise him. No one had, and he managed to escape down to Viridian City with no issues.

From there, he had gone back to Pallet and visited Green. It was then that the other boy suggested that he go and train in Mount Silver (it is to be noted that before he had said this, he had punched him in the face for giving up the position hours after he'd beaten him), so he had. And that's where he had been since.

He didn't see himself staying up here forever though, but for now, it was good. But really, he visited the cities enough, it was just like he was living in a different suburb. A dangerous and cold one at that, but you know what he meant. He didn't understand what people were talking about when they said that it was freezing up here though, because it was pretty average to him. Green would argue that it's because he'd been up here so long, but right from the start he had never felt it. Probably because he'd never worn a jacket when he first started travelling, he had just gotten used to cold weather.

Something caught Red's eye at this point, snapping him out of his daydreaming. It kind of looked like a silhouette of someone walking towards where he was sitting in the snow. Probably just another trainer, it had been a while since a challenger and it would be nice to battle properly again. He stood up and peered forward, and when they came into view, his eyes widened. When Gold had said that he wanted to battle him one day, he didn't think they actually would.

You know, for the last three years, Red had felt like he was just that silent kid from Pallet, or to others he was just the boy that defeated Team Rocket. He was also the heir to said organisation (which was a tiny part of the reason why he was isolated up here), and the former Champion of Kanto. But as he watched Gold approach him with that huge grin on his face, a sudden realisation hit him. He was only Red, and that's all he ever would be no matter what life threw in his direction or what people said. That fact made him smile, because really, that's just what he wanted.

"Hey, Red!"

And then with the same smile on his face, he reached into the snow behind him and picked up a pokeball.

* * *

_This chapter is dedicated to a reviewer I have called Hedgi. She (I really really hope you're a girl)_ _loveliest reviews, and I think she might have been feeling a bit down recently, so I hope this cheers her up a bit!_ _Also thanks to my beta, __The Creador. He's a great guy :D _

_I purposely didn't put in a little interview thing at the beginning of this chapter, because I don't think_ _it would have really fitted. Also, it's a bit hard going from writing a character who is younger than you to writing one that it older. Mind you, I am in my eighteenth year, but I'm not eighteen yet._

_Holy crap though. It's done. I can't believe this is actually finished. This story was like my child, and now it's done. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad! Man, it just started from an idea I got while in the car from my mum's to my dad's, hahaha. I never thought it would get this big, seriously. But thanks to all my reviewers, you guys have been the absolute best and made writing this actually worthwhile. It's been super fun though, I didn't think I'd ever have the patience to write something twice the length of the first Harry Potter book, hahaha._

_Anyway, I may do a Gold story, but it'll be in a while. University is starting soon, and so is work, so I might have like, no time. Plus, I need a bit of a break after such a commitment_, _ha. But I hope you've all enjoyed this as much as I have writing it. See you later!_


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